11 awesome NES games you can't play on the NES Mini

The NES Mini has a cracking selection of games. From Mario to Mega Man, and from Final Fantasy to Castlevania, it's a complete rundown of the most iconic 80s games.

But I'm insatiable and annoying, and there are more NES games that I'm bummed didn't make the cut.

Here are 11 classic games that you can't get on the Mini - stick to Virtual Console or, in many cases, eBay.

Back in the 80s, games based on movies and TV shows weren't utter dross. Just try the brilliant Disney-licensed Duck Tales, made by Mega Man developer Capcom.

Playing as Uncle Scrooge, you use your cane like a pogo stick to bounce through levels ranging from the Amazon rain forest to the gosh darn moon. It's a fun game but best known for its music which is somehow even more catchy than the Duck Tales theme song.

You know how it is. Some days you just lose your pet frog and have to jump into your floating tank to chase your amphibious buddy through an underground network of mazes and enemies.

The game's got both sprawling side-scrolling stages that will remind you of Metroid, as well as top-down bits that look more like classic Zelda. Ultimately, this late NES game pulls from loads of different games (including Contra and Mega Man) for a greatest hits album of a game.

Bionic Commando's protagonist is called Rad Spencer. That's basically all you need to know. Oh, and he has a grapple hook he can use to swing through stages, while blasting away at baddies.

In Japan, the game was about fighting a futuristic, resurrected nazi army. That was all changed for the western edition but Capcom left in the bit where Hitler's head explodes. Because who's going to complain about that?

Some heroes use guns. Others carry swords. One guy has little metal throwing stars he painstakingly made to look like bats. But the dude in Shatterhand only needs his fists.

This is a fun and frantic side scroller where you just punch the bejesus out of robots and soldiers and all sorts. It's also a technical marvel, using clever tricks to make the NES do the sort of parallax scrolling that wouldn't be possible until the Super Nintendo.

It's no surprise that Battletoads didn't appear on the NES Mini. When Microsoft made the Xbox, it scooped up Nintendo's best bud Rare and the licenses to all its old games. That's why the Battletoads appear in Killer Instinct on Xbox One.

And that's a shame - this NES game might be criminally difficult, and even harder when playing with a buddy in co-op, but it's a satisfying challenge once you beat it. Plus, it's like an internet meme or something.

Metal Storm has a bit of a reputation, as retro gamers on YouTube sang this forgotten game's praises and made prices soar on eBay.

But they were right to call it rad: this chunky robot blaster has a bonkers mechanic where you flip gravity on its head so you're walking on ceilings and playing the game upside down.

The NES Mini has the first two Castlevania games, but it's missing the incredibly impressive third. This game is not just fun, but a technical powerhouse with all sorts of effects and stuff that really shouldn't work on an NES.

The Japanese edition even had an extra chip hidden in the cartridge that let the NES play more musical instruments, leading to a soundtrack that just shouldn't be possible on an 8bit machine.

The NES isn't exactly hurting for great side-scrolling action games but, heck, we'll take another. This one's based on a comic book and comes from Castlevania creator Konami.

It's fast and challenging, and offers a huge amount of variation. It even has some puzzle elements as you can rescue your pals from the evil toads and then use their unique powers to overcome obstacles.

You've probably heard of Ghosts 'n' Goblins, but you might be less familiar with the spin-off Gargoyle's Quest, which stars one of the boss monsters from that Capcom game.

There's a whole series of these games on Game Boy, NES, and Super NES - and they're all fab, combining Mega Man-style action with an overhead map and RPG levelling. All three games are great, and criminally overlooked.

Here's where it all began. Well, sort of - it's a far-from-faithful port of the MSX2 original. But while it's a far cry from the cinematic gobbledygook of modern MGS games, you'll definitely see where everything started for this world famous franchise.

It's got the sneaking. It's got the exclamation marks. It's got the transceiver for talking with your boss. And it's even got characters like Big Boss and Gray Fox making this retro game, believe it or not, part of the official, impossible-to-follow canon.

Batman has a better track record for video game adaptations than most super heroes. But long before Arkham Knight, the dark knight was decking people in this 8bit action game.

It's made by Blaster Master developer Sunsoft and gives Batman the ability to dance around like a ninja - bounding up walls and bouncing off ledges to get the drop on goons. It looks great, and plays great.