diff --git a/lib/resolve/npm.js b/lib/resolve/npm.js
index 45558816af..29b3fe9640 100644
--- a/lib/resolve/npm.js
+++ b/lib/resolve/npm.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ var url = require('url')
 var enc = global.encodeURIComponent
 var got = require('../got')
 var registryUrl = require('registry-url')
+var semver = require('semver')
 
 /**
  * Resolves a package in the NPM registry. Done as part of `install()`.
@@ -22,29 +23,65 @@ module.exports = function resolveNpm (pkg, log) {
   // { raw: 'rimraf@2', scope: null, name: 'rimraf', rawSpec: '2' || '' }
   return Promise.resolve()
     .then(_ => toUri(pkg))
-    .then(url => {
-      return got.get(url).then(res => {
-        if (log) log('resolving')
-        return res.promise
-      })
-    })
+    .then(url => got.get(url).then(res => {
+      if (log) log('resolving')
+      return res.promise
+    }))
     .then(res => JSON.parse(res.body))
-    .then(res => {
-      return {
-        name: res.name,
-        fullname: '' + res.name.replace('/', '!') + '@' + res.version,
-        version: res.version, // used for displaying
-        dist: res.dist
-      }
-    })
-    .catch(errify)
+    .catch(err => err.statusCode === 404
+      ? getAllVersionsAndMatchOnClient(pkg)
+      : errify(err, pkg)
+    )
+    .then(res => ({
+      name: res.name,
+      fullname: '' + res.name.replace('/', '!') + '@' + res.version,
+      version: res.version, // used for displaying
+      dist: res.dist
+    }))
+}
 
-  function errify (err) {
-    if (err.statusCode === 404) {
-      throw new Error("Module '" + pkg.raw + "' not found")
-    }
-    throw err
+function errify (err, pkg) {
+  if (err.statusCode === 404) {
+    throw new Error("Module '" + pkg.raw + "' not found")
   }
+  throw err
+}
+
+function getAllVersionsAndMatchOnClient (pkg) {
+  return Promise.resolve()
+    .then(_ => url.resolve(registryUrl(pkg.scope), pkg.name))
+    .then(url => got.get(url).then(res => res.promise))
+    .then(res => JSON.parse(res.body))
+    .then(res => pickVersionFromRegistryDocument(res, pkg))
+    .catch(err => errify(err, pkg))
+}
+
+function pickVersionFromRegistryDocument (pkg, dep) {
+  var versions = Object.keys(pkg.versions)
+  if (dep.tag === 'tag' && dep.spec === 'latest') {
+    var sortedVersions = versions.sort(semver.rcompare)
+    return pkg(sortedVersions[0])
+  }
+
+  if (dep.type === 'tag' && dep.spec !== 'latest') {
+    var tagVersion = pkg['dist-tags'][dep.spec]
+    if (pkg.versions[tagVersion]) {
+      return pkg.versions[tagVersion]
+    }
+  } else {
+    var spec = scopeWorkarounds(dep)
+    var maxSatisfyingVersion = semver.maxSatisfying(versions, spec)
+    if (maxSatisfyingVersion) {
+      return pkg.versions[maxSatisfyingVersion]
+    }
+  }
+
+  var message = versions.length
+              ? 'Versions in registry:\n' + versions.join(', ') + '\n'
+              : 'No valid version found.'
+  var er = new Error('No compatible version found: ' +
+                     dep.raw + '\n' + message)
+  throw er
 }
 
 /**