Little Samson

There is a handful of cartridges collectors crave like a holy grail — and Little Samson is one of them. It came out at the very tail end of the NES era in 1992, at a time when the world had long since turned its gaze to sixteen-bit consoles, and so it sold desperately few copies.

The result? Today it ranks among the most expensive NES titles of all, and a complete, well-preserved copy sells for the equivalent of thousands of dollars. But the price tag should not overshadow what matters: Little Samson is, in purely gameplay terms, an absolutely outstanding platformer, one of the most technically advanced titles of the entire eight-bit generation.

Its gameplay rests on a clever idea of four playable characters you switch between freely during play. The titular Samson can climb walls and ceilings, the dragon Kikira flies and breathes fire, the mouse Gamm slips through narrow gaps, and the stone golem Ko can soak up enormous punishment. Every level thus becomes a little puzzle: which character to deploy, where it pays to risk the dragon and where it is better to send in the durable golem.

The graphics are detailed and colourful, the animation smooth and the level design thoughtful — you can tell the creators at Takeru knew exactly where the NES's limits were and pushed them to the max. The soundtrack and overall craftsmanship hold to the same high bar.

The sad truth is that owning an original is unrealistic for most people today — the physical cartridge simply costs a fortune. Emulation is therefore not only a reasonable but practically the only way to play this gem at all. And it is worth it: beneath the legend of rarity hides a genuinely great game.

Why play: A technically top-tier platformer with four characters, now a legendary collector's grail — but one that thoroughly deserves attention on its own gameplay merits.