By Nintendo | Released: 1990
While The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. are
unarguable pinnacles of videogame creation, if we were stranded on an
island with a power source, an NES and a single game, it would
unquestionably be Super Mario Bros. 3. The most anticipated game on the
NES, SMB3 had nothing short of a feature length film (The Wizard)
plugging it before it hit store shelves. Despite the unparalleled hype,
no one was disappointed. Mario receives some amazing gear in his third
game, including the Raccoon Suit that allows him to soar high above the
game's carefully crafted levels. Each world in SMB3 features a unique
style, and Mario's quest takes him through desert, grasslands, above the
clouds and below the sea – there's so much to explore that we still
make discoveries every time we dust off the cartridge today. Super Mario
Bros. 3 does everything an NES game possibly can, and pushes the NES to
the very limits of its capabilities, and we can unequivocally call it
the greatest NES game of all time.
2. The Legend of Zelda
By Nintendo | Released: 1987
Few franchises in Nintendo's storied history are as
famous as The Legend of Zelda. And back in 1987, the franchise started
off with a bang with one of the most ambitious replica-gold-plated
cartridges to ever grace the NES. What's funny about The Legend of
Zelda's title was that the gamer played as a character named Link, who
was in turn trying to save the famed princess named Zelda. But that
didn't matter. Zelda was one of the biggest console games of the time,
and that got gamers excited. Confusion aside, the game left players
confounded with its intricate, wide-open design. Zelda was an
action-adventure game with RPG elements, and in an age without the
Internet, people were on their own about how to get through the game in
one piece. Some people made maps. Others called Nintendo's own hotline
for help or consulted a magazine. And some were fortunate enough to have
friends who knew answers. But for the most part, early Zelda gamers had
nothing but their own ingenuity to rely on. And rely on it they did,
making The Legend of Zelda one of the NES' most famous games, part of a
franchise that thrives to this day
By Nintendo | Released: 1985
Not only is it one of the very best and most iconic
videogames ever conceived, but having shipped with the majority of NES
consoles, Super Mario Bros. quickly became synonymous with the NES
itself. For many, the NES was the machine that played Mario. The
quintessential platformer, it's hard to imagine a video game industry
today without Super Mario Bros. The sights and sounds of the mustachioed
plumber busting through the brick and pipe-filled Mushroom kingdom are
probably more recognizable than the American flag to several generations
of US gamers. Although the game itself takes a good amount of skill to
master, Super Mario Bros has a mysterious quality that makes it
appealing to even the most inexperienced players. The game has been
enjoyed by more players over the years than any other game on the NES,
and its greatness can be experienced by anyone who picks up a control
pad today.
By Capcom | Released: 1989
The sequel to the original Mega Man was quick on the
heels of the first, with barely a year in between the release of the two
titles in the United States. And what gamers found in Mega Man 2 was
something seen in few games since – a title that was virtually flawless.
Opening up the initial level of Robot Masters from six, as seen in the
first game, to eight as seen in each subsequent Classic Series title,
Mega Man 2 was also the only Classic Mega Man game to have a difficulty
setting. Mega Man 2 is often glossed over as being too easy even on the
"Hard" difficulty setting, but that doesn't take away from everything
the game offered. It's bright, colorful aesthetic, awesome enemy
designs, amazing music and incredible replay value are all storied parts
of the game's history. And that's saying nothing of its amazing
action-platforming gameplay, which was oft-replicated and never
exceeded. If you have to play one Mega Man game to familiarize yourself
with the series, make it Mega Man 2.
By Konami | Released: 1990
The unique Castlevania II was a popular game, but when it
came time for Konami to begin working on Castlevania III: Dracula's
Curse, the developers felt it was best for the series to return to its
action-platforming roots; a decision that proved to be the right one the
day the game was released in the fall of 1990. Extending the gameplay
to many times the length and difficulty of the original, Castlevania III
allowed gamers to take the role of Trevor Belmont, Simon Belmont's
ancestor, as well as the roles of three other playable characters that
Trevor may meet during his quest.
May meet, because Castlevania
III allowed gamers multiple paths as they progressed through the game.
Grant, Sypha and Alucard all made their first appearances in Dracula's
Curse, but you might not ever necessarily meet them all. The paths you
choose to take during the game will bring you to stages and events you
might otherwise miss entirely. In this way, Castlevania III was like the
original game on a considerable amount of steroids, with plenty of
replay value to boot.
By Nintendo | Released: 1987
Another epically popular franchise to this day,
Nintendo's Metroid came to the United States in 1987 and immediately
floored gamers not only with its slick presentation, interesting
protagonist and open world, but from the fact that it was non-linear in
nature. Developed on the same engine as Kid Icarus, and released around
the same time, Metroid toned down the action-platforming found in Icarus
and focused on exploration. And explore you did. Metroid proved to be
one of the biggest and most daunting games early in the NES' lifecycle.
Metroid was unique for so many reasons, among them the ability to
explore at your own pace. All of the terrain was interconnected into one
big map, an idea later expanded upon and matured by the SNES's Super
Metroid. In fact, ideas in Metroid have been replicated time and time
again, and its collection-based themes and upgrade-encouraged RPG motif
can be found in a vast range of games since, from the PlayStation's
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to the more recent Xbox Live title,
Shadow Complex.
By Nintendo | Released: 1987
Perhaps the one NES classic most on the minds of gamers
in 2009 thanks to the recent release of its incredible Wii
sequel/remake, Punch-Out!! is the original masterpiece boxing game that
isn't really about boxing at all. The game simply used the convenient
foundation of the sport to construct a deceptively deep, endlessly
addictive gameplay design that's all about pattern recognition, fast
reaction times and comically over-the-top cartoon personalities.
Punch-Out!! put you in the rookie shoes of underweight title contender
Little Mac and challenged you to duck, dodge, jab, hook and uppercut
your way to success against one of the greatest rogues' galleries of
ridiculous opponents ever assembled for any videogame, ever. The cast
was so memorable and the experience so well defined that many elements
were kept completely intact for the recent Wii re-imagining of the game –
there's no improving on the perfection of King Hippo, Great Tiger or
Glass Joe. Punch-Out!! shipped in two forms on the NES, one featuring
Mike Tyson as the final boss and the other with him removed. Tyson's
name recognition was never needed, though. Punch-Out!! was a knock-out
even without his celebrity status.
By Nintendo | Released: 1989
Before Final Fantasy, there was Dragon Warrior. Known as
Dragon Quest in Japan, Dragon Warrior was one of the NES's early smash
hits that didn't come from Nintendo itself, even though it was released
nearly three years after it saw the light of day on its native Japanese
Famicom. RPGs were still an extremely niche genre at the time and Dragon
Warrior was no guaranteed hit. However, word of mouth combined with a
Nintendo Power promotion that sent copies of the game around the country
allowed it to blow up. Dragon Warrior is an old-school grinding RPG
that necessitated acute attention to leveling up, equipment management
and smart planning. No sooner would an unprepared adventurer leave a
town and cross a bridge into a new area than he would find himself
smashed by an enemy much stronger than he. Because of that, there was no
rushing around; Dragon Warrior was for patient gamers only. And woe is
the gamer who forgot to hold down the Reset button when turning off his
NES. The catastrophic data loss that resulted ruined many a gamers'
month.
By Capcom | Released: 1988
It may strike some as strange that one of the NES's very
greatest platformers dispenses with jumping – that essential component
of Mario's repertoire – entirely. But Bionic Commando's Rad Spencer gets
by just fine with the help of his bionic appendage. At first, Bionic
Commando's emphasis on swinging seems counterintuitive and limiting, but
at some point the smooth grappling action just clicks, you find
yourself zipping around the stages in a blur of red and green pixels.
Taking cues from open-ended adventure games like Metroid, you'll need to
find certain weapons and equipment to progress in Bionic Commando, and
that sometimes means returning to area you've previously visited to take
care of unfinished business. A thinly-veiled plot about the
resurrection of Adolf Hitler and an epic soundtrack go a long way
towards making Bionic Commando a totally unique experience on the NES.
By Capcom | Released: 1989
Out of all of the games built on Capcom's famous Mega Man
architecture (that wasn't a Mega Man game, that is), Duck Tales is
perhaps the best of the bunch. With Mega Man veterans like Keiji Inafune
and Yoshihiro Sakaguchi getting the most out of the technology, Duck
Tales proved to be an amazing game in its own right. Sure, it borrowed
from Mega Man apart from the engine – selecting stage orders, for
instance – but standing on its own, Duck Tales is one of the must-have
games in any NES aficionado's library. The gameplay is of the classic
action-platforming variety. Gamers take the role of Scrooge McDuck, who
goes through various stages to collect wealth, defeating enemies with
his pogo stick attack. When one stage is cleared, Scrooge can pick from
any of the remaining stages to undertake his next quest. When the game
culminates on the sixth and final stage, Scrooge is a force to be
reckoned with. And if the gamer managed to finish with $10 million in
funds and has two special hidden treasures, a unique ending can be
unlocked, as well.
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