Necro Nancy Haunts Your NES Soon

8-bit homebrewers Jonny Dickinson and David Ko have been dabbling in the Assembly arts these past few months and have wound up concocting Necro Nancy, a spooky arcade shooter now available through Kickstarter.

Young witch Nancy Graves is cleaning house. She has no choice; ghouls and ghosts are constantly popping out of holes and the only way to thwart them is to blip them away with magic before they hit the ground. Then there’s this giant SKULL to deal with…it all seems like too much! Good thing she can store a reserve blast called Purge Magic as she shoots, and unleash it at strategic times to clear the screen. Being an arcade game, the goal of Necro Nancy is to achieve the highest score possible, which will save to the cartridge — but you can also post it online.

I first saw Necro Nancy when Jonny submitted the demo for it to this year’s Byte-Off, a competition for NES coders who use the software program NESMaker. It was undeniably one of the highlights of that competition and the finished product should be just as good if not better.

• Classic 8-Bit Experience: Immerse yourself in the nostalgia of the NES era with retro graphics, chiptune music, and a charming 8-bit arcade game design.
• Five Themed Stages: Fight spirits in mirrors, undead in church windows, and monsters from pentagrams all finishing with a deadly boss fight.
• Shoot-em-up Challenges: Conquer a variety of meticulously designed levels that test your arcade shooter skills and offer hidden secrets to discover.
• Radical Power-ups: Find and utilize quirky power-ups that transform Nancy’s abilities, helping her overcome hordes and clear stages swiftly.
• Award-Winning Graphics: Winner of Best Graphics at the Byte-Off V NES Competition 2025 held at Midwest Gaming Classic, Milwaukee.
• Bonus Rounds & Hidden Horrors: Unlock secret stages, face new fiends, and chase high-score glory to become the ultimate Spellbound Elite!

You can get Necro Nancy digitally for a $14 pledge, physically on an NES cart for a $53 pledge, or physically with cart and manual for a $79 pledge. Two different types of Collectors Editions, exclusive to the Kickstarter, are also available for $106 and $132 respectively. You’ve got until December 15 to let Nancy haunt your house!