This is my personal Top 10 NES games I still enjoy playing today. These aren’t necessarily the most important games on the system or to the history of gaming. I’ve chosen these titles because I can pick them up and play them with no problem. They’re as fun today as they were 25+ years ago.
I’ll warn reader up front, there are “classic” games missing from my list. Personally, I don’t enjoy Mega Man, Metroid or the original Legend of Zelda. Their absence has everything to do with my taste in games, and nothing to do with the games themselves. I know they’re well-made games, but that doesn’t mean I like playing them.
So with no further ado, I am pleased to present my personal top 10 NES game I still enjoy playing today.
Super Mario Bros
The very first NES game I played is Super Mario Bros. Most people in the 80s had the same experience. There were platformers on the Atari, but not many and none with the scrolling levels of the Mushroom Kingdom. This revolutionary game helped make the NES an incredible success that re-popularized home videogames.
Playing it today, Super Mario Bros plays just as well it did in the 80s. The controls are simple. Walk, run, jump and shoot a fireball. Running causes Mario to jump further, and higher. There’s a little wiggle room with Mario’s jump, which means there’s commitment made once you press the button. This makes the game harder than one might expect, but still simple enough to pick up and enjoy.
There’s lots here to enjoy, with 8 worlds made up of 4 levels each. Within those levels are tons of secrets. Pipes lead to coin caches, vine blocks lead to coin heaven, and hidden at the far end of stages are the warp pipes. If you haven’t played Super Mario Bros, or haven’t played it in 20 years, give it a go.
Castlevania 3
Castlevania 3 is the best of the original NES trilogy. It’s incredibly difficult, especially due to the knockback that occurs whenever the player is hit by an enemy. Changing direction mid-jump is impossible, making it even more of a commitment than in Super Mario Bros. Combining these two elements makes for a challenging platforming experience.
While it’s challenging, it’s also expertly paced. Approaching enemies and jumping sections with caution is the best approach. Deliberate actions will help you survive, and the pacing allows you to approach most areas in this manner. It also gives you time to explore the levels for hidden power ups, which are sparse but important to getting through later levels.
Joining Trevor Belmont on his quest to defeat Dracula are three additional characters. Grant the pirate, Sypha the Wizard, and Alucard the son of Dracula will join your team depending on which levels you tackle. Oh yeah, there’s branching paths to encourage replayability. Castlevania 3 remains a great game. If you’re a retrogamer and liked the recent Netflix anime, check out the original that inspired it.
Kirby’s Adventure
Kirby’s always been overshadowed by Mario as a Nintendo mascot, but the series is loaded with simple, but incredibly fun, platformers. The pink puff’s NES outing is no different. The graphics and music are incredible. Nintendo took their combined vertical and horizontal scrolling technology from SMB3 and added rotating backgrounds. The way the game looks and sounds helped it stand out against early Super NES games at the time.
Kirby’s Adventure is more than just a graphic achievement. Level design and boss creatures are tons of fun. It’s not challenging like Mario, but its pure entertainment. There’s a joy to exploring Dreamland with Kirby.
NARC
Violent beyond any other NES game I ever played, NARC is a ridiculously over-the-top shooter. Ported from the arcade, it does downgrade the graphic quality but the gameplay remains intact. Armed with automatic rifles and grenade launchers, you’re a cop tasked with cleaning up the city’s drug problem. Together with your partner you shoot your way through waves of drug dealers. The moment that sells this game for me is when drug dealers start throwing needles the size of baseball bats at you. NARC’s a blast.
Punch-Out
Punching ridiculous stereotypes while Mario refs is always a delight. Your opponents start out extremely weak. Opening to strike are clearly telegraphed and the timing is loose enough for new players to react to the signal. As the player progresses, the other boxers grow stronger and their weaknesses harder to exploit. This difficulty curve avoids sudden spikes, but certainly doesn’t take it easy on players.
Little Mac’s limited move sets helps with tackling the game’s challenge. B is a left body blow, and if you press up + B you throw a left jab to the head. A does the same for right strikes. Holding back blocks, while left and right are dodges. If the player earns a star, by countering, you get access to the uppercut to help take down the stronger opponents.
There’s not much to learn, which allows the player to focus on the enemy attack patterns. You’re not left wondering what attacks will work best. If it’s not obvious, you only have a handful of moves to run through. Once you know the patterns, it’s about perfecting the execution. I can play Punch-Out for hours. Every single bout remains a blast.
Duck Tales
Duck Tales is a great platformer from Capcom. It’s challenging, loaded with secrets to uncover, and never ceases to be fun. One of the many excellent Disney licensed games from Capcom, this one remains my favourite on the NES. Rescue Rangers and Tail Spin are good too, but Duck Tales is better.
I’ve never played another game where a rich, old duck uses his cane as a pogo stick to destroy his enemies and jump around various themed levels. The control scheme’s strange, but it works. Learning the timing isn’t easy, but once you have it down you’ll bounce around levels like a pro. Give this one a shot.
Yoshi
Nobody remembers this late 1991 NES puzzle game. The premise was simple. Mario enemies fall from the top of the screen. Stack two identical creatures and they vanish. Sandwich different creatures between the bottom and top of a Yoshi egg and they all vanish. The first person to clear their screen wins.
Yoshi is a simple game. If you want the best puzzle game on NES, it’s Tetris, but Yoshi is my second choice for best NES puzzle game. I also refuse to put Tetris on this list, because it’s widely available on all system and NES doesn’t have the best version. That makes Yoshi my favorite NES game for this list. It’s still fun to play, especially with two players. Nothing says fun like trouncing a friend in versus mode.
TMNT 2: The Arcade Game
TMNT 2: The Arcade Game is the best beat-em-up on the NES. A port of the excellent arcade game, this title gives Turtles fans everything they wanted and didn’t get with the original TMNT release. Foot soldiers flood the screen, with little slow down, and you beat the hell out of them. It’s a simple formula, but its rock solid gameplay.
The challenge is real with this game too. You won’t breeze through this one, but it’s fair. As long as you’re changing up your attacks and moving around the screen, you won’t get absolutely destroyed. Hand a second controller to a friend, and you’ll have an even better time. This one is best played co-op.
Ps. If you love this one, check out TMNT 3: Manhattan Project. It’s a little known sequel that’s just as good.
Rampage
There’s very little to Rampage. You’re a giant monster rampaging through a city. Punching buildings until they collapse is the main objective, with plenty of breaks to eat people and smash tanks. Each level is a new single screen city to destroy. Much like TMNT 2, this one is best experienced co-op. The presence of a second player makes the game a competition to wreak the most havoc. Good graphics, silly sound effects, and a decent sense of humor keep Rampage a blast to play even today.
Super Mario Bros 3
Super Mario Bros 3 is the best game I’ve played on the NES. Everything about it blows the original out of the water, and that game still plays great. Running and jumping through the varied worlds feels better than the original Super Mario Bros. Mario’s jump is more forgiving, with the ability to pull back on the jump mid-air. This change to the physics engine takes Mario from good to great.
Pushing Super Mario Bros 3 even farther is the added special items. The famous Tanooki suit is a highlight. Giving Mario the ability to fly was a stroke of genius. Soaring into the air sees the level scroll upward, which didn’t happen in the original Super Mario Bros. The second game in the series played with vertical scrolling, but it happened with a jerky stop and start this title doesn’t have. The smooth scrolling opens up so many new areas to explore, and the icing on the exploration cake is when Mario shoots passed the top edge of the screen.
Something many might not remember is how varied the world design is in Mario 3. Desert, ice and fire levels are old hat now, but when the game launched the standards hadn’t been established. These were exciting changes from the first Mario game. The best of them being Giant world. The level design there isn’t the best of the worlds, but seeing massive versions of standard enemies is so much fun.
Super Mario Bros 3 holds up next to Super Mario World or New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe. For me it’s the classic 2D Mario platformer I’ll always go back to. It’s aged wonderfully. If there’s one NES game to experience, it’s this one.