# Top Gun for NES

8 Hacker News commenters recommended Top Gun for NES and 10 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Fans like its carrier landing simulation and classic feel, but critics say carrier landings and mid-air refueling are very hard and the instructions mislead.

## Why people recommend it

- Challenging, rewarding carrier landings (2 comments): "I played the game a ton and was maybe 50/50 at the landings" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46275851)) "I felt like a Maverick himself when I finally landed it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46276010))
- Interesting to reverse engineer (2 comments): "Pretty cool still, especially if one's into reverse engineering." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46275138)) "The game actually models this somewhat accurately!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46278098))
- Frustrating yet beloved by players (2 comments): "And this one infuriated me, because I loved it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46276752)) "I played the game a ton and was maybe 50/50 at the landings" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46275851))

## What people warn about

- Carrier landings very difficult (4 comments): "never got to actually do anything because I couldn't figure out how to land the damn plane" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46277323)) "This landing was the bane of my existence back in kinder at my friends house" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46278221)) "next to impossible as a kid" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46275385))
- Refueling in the air frustrating (2 comments): "Carrier landing was frustrating enough but the re-fueling was another level." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46279285)) "I never had much trouble landing on the carrier, but refueling in the sky?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46275893))
- Misleading instructions and manual (2 comments): "this is bad game design. A manual should never be needed." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46275855)) "it's the landing instructions that I think are misleading" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46279259))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Helldivers 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/helldivers-2.md): 50 recommend
- [Triple-A Minesweeper](https://hackerapproved.com/p/triple-a-minesweeper.md): 40 recommend
- [Quake II](https://hackerapproved.com/p/quake-2.md): 33 recommend
- [Red Dead Redemption 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/red-dead-redemption-2.md): 28 recommend
- [Grand Theft Auto (1997)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grand-theft-auto.md): 28 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Top Gun for NES", https://hackerapproved.com/p/top-gun-for-the-nes/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).