Old console adventures
 

I was feeling a little nostalgic and thinking about playing some old console games (nes, sega, snes, etc.) and I was wondering what adventure games there were for those consoles. The only one I remember off the top of my head is maniac mansion for the nes. When I try to look online it seems that console gamers have a different definition of adventure game than pc gamers. So, what games are there for those consoles that are similar to pc adventure games? Also, is maniac mansion on nes worth playing? I'm wondering how the interface translates and if there are dead ends in the nes version.

The only game i can think of out of "console exclusive" bunch is - Blazing Dragons. It was never clear to me why it wasn't on PC as well, as it's a typical point & click:

http://www.adventuregamers.com/images/db/13533.jpg

Thanks Diego, this is the sort of thing I was looking for.

Well I can think of a few.

NES: ShadowGate,Uninvited,Deja Vu,Uninvited,Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
SNES: I can't really think of a pure adventure game for snes, one that has some adventure qualities: Wonder Project J
N64: ShadowGate 64


All I can think of for now, I know there is quite a few on Playstation 1 but I'll have to go look through my collection to rememeber

As for your question about maniac mansion, its a really fun game but I have never finished it, I need to buy it again someday lol :)

Is Blazing Dragons worth playing?

Maniac Mansion is definitely worth playing on the NES - for me, the music makes it the definitive version. There are probably still most of the same dead ends from the computer versions.

Broken Sword 1 was on the PS1 (not exclusively of course). I played it on that and it was fine.

King's Quest V was ported to the NES.

Shadowgate is a must-play. Frustrating game at times but a landmark for adventure gaming.

More PC like adventure games for consoles were more popular in Japan. These are all in Japanese though, so won't do you much good unless you know the language (with one exception).

Genesis/Megadrive:

There were a handful of Phantasy Star II text adventures
Yū Yū Hakusho Gaiden - Based on the anime of the same name (the Secret of Blue Water)
Psy-O Blade

SNES:
Clock Tower (later ported to PC and Playstation)
Ushiro ni Tatsu Shōjo (later ported to GBA)
Heisei Shin OniOni Shima: Kōhen
Heisei Shin OniOni Shima: Zenpen
Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Hōseki (more ofa visual choose your own adventure novel)
Ihatovo Monogatari


Sega CD:
The Space Adventure (released outside of Japan)
Shadowrun
Psychic Detective Series Vol 3 & 4
Snatcher

NES:
Jesus: Kyōfu no Bio-Monster
Akira
Erika to Satoru no Yume Bōken
Akagawa Jirō no Yūrei Ressha
Seirei Gari
Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken

Sega Master System:
Hoshi o sagashite

I don't know, but the same company made Duckman. Also, Terry Jones is involved in it so it certainly looks interesting.

Blazing Dragon is a lovely cartoon adventure game for the SEGA Saturn that I heartily recommend. It's a complete mystery why it was never ported to the PC. Possibly the graphics were considered to lo-fi for the PC at the time it came out (1996). That doesn't explained why it was released for the Playstation though.

It's not too hard to come by on ebay (I had no problems at least) and I think the Saturn is pretty easy to emulate in Windows (I haven't tried this myself, though). I wouldn't exactly call this essential adventure gaming, but it's a solid title that's easily on par with Teen Agent, Flight of the Amazon Queen and similar wanna-be LucasArts adventures from the early 90s.

A few games were ported over to the Mega/Sega CD, such as Monkey Island, Willy Beamish and Rise of the Dragon.

As mentioned before, most of the old console adventure games were Japanese and only a handful of them are in English (Officially, and fan translated too).

I think you meant Nadia ;)

One game that you did not mention was the excellent Famicom Detective Club II for the SNES -which has been fan translated.

Mansion of Hidden Souls (1994) (SegaCD)
Mansion of Hidden Souls (1995) (Sega Saturn) Sequel to above
Lunacy (1997) (Sega Saturn)
Juggernaut (1999) (PSX)

These are all 1st person slide-show style adventure games. I've played them all within the last 6 months and can vouch for their "purity".

Yeah, mixed up the description with another game that I left description off of altogether. Happens when you multitask too many things late at night.