What can one even say about the NES? It was the quintessential game system of the '80s and early '90s, lasting from 1983 to 1995 and almost single-handedly rebuilt a dying industry. And now, after many years of thrifting, hunting in used game shops and scouring the giant used game shop/thrift shop that is eBay, I think I can finally declare my collection complete. So in honor of its launch year in North America, let's look at my 85 favorite games on the platform.
For this list, I've imposed only two rules: The games must still be fun to play today, and only games which were commercially released during the NES's heyday are considered. That means no pirates, ROM hacks, bootlegs of unreleased titles or contemporary homebrews are eligible.
85. Mario Bros. (Nintendo, 1985)
The original Mario Bros. one gets a lot of flak from retro and modern gamers alike, and I'm really not sure why. Sure, it hasn't aged quite as well as the legendary sidescrolling platformers that succeeded it, but it's still a pretty entertaining game in its own right. Bump enemies, dodge fireballs and icy floors, collect coins, shove player two into that enraged shellcreeper coming for your blood, rush for the panic POW block when things get too crazy... what's not to love here? It's easily among the best of the black box era games, if nothing else. Hell, it even spawned a pretty fun little two-player competitive minigame in Super Mario Bros. 3, so it must be good!
(There is also an enhanced advertisement-laden update on the Disk System called "Kaettekita Mario Bros" if that's your sort of thing.)
84. Galaga: Demons of Death (Namco, 1988)
An arcade smash for sure, Galaga (here given the extraneous subtitle "Demons of Death" for no reason I can discern) is just pure fun - blast aliens, avoid their increasingly aggressive movement and firing patterns, and shoot for a high score. Having your ship captured and then freeing it to control two ships at once and get double the firepower was also a pretty awesome feature for the time, and the sparse-but-catchy music and spacey sound effects perfectly immerse you in the atmosphere. The NES version is a nearly perfect copy of the arcade game with no frills to speak of but that's no bad thing in my book when you're dealing with a game as classic as this.
83. Dig-Dug (Namco, 1985 in Japan)
Another popular arcade title that got ported to just about every platform under the sun, and for good reason. Well, almost - it was conspicuously absent on the NES in North America despite getting ports to both the Famicom and the Disk System in Japan (though we did get Dig Dug II... blech). A bit of a shame, as like Galaga and Pac-Man, it's a fine conversion that plays nearly identically to its arcade counterpart. The objective is simple enough - clear each screen of enemies - but it's made more complicated by the fact that you must dig your way through the dirt to create paths for them to follow, which can then be utilized to set up traps for them - dropping a rock on one or more enemies at a time will rack up serious points. However, they will also occasionally turn into a ghostly form and pass through walls to get to you more quickly, so you must stay on your toes. A fun and addictive little game.
82. Duck Hunt (Nintendo, 1985)
I think everybody who ever owned an NES played Duck Hunt; in no small part because almost all of them got it with the system, either on a two-cart with Super Mario Bros. or on a three-cart that also included World Class Track Meet. To most of us, it was also our first exposure to a light gun peripheral - the Zapper, which detected targets by blanking out the screen for a brief moment and then flashing a bright spot where the targets were to register hits. Duck Hunt has three modes - one duck, two ducks and clay pigeon shooting, and of course, nobody will ever forget that dog, who taunts you every time you miss a duck or waste all your bullets each round. The game is a little one-note, but it's a fun and addictive experience. Sadly we never got a home port of the arcade version, VS Duck Hunt, which cycled through game modes between rounds and even had an exclusive bonus round (where you could get revenge on the dog at long last if you didn't mind losing points).
81. Space Invaders (Taito, 1985 in Japan)
It's a little bizarre to think this game was eight years old by the time it debuted on the Famicom, but it's also just indelible proof that strong gameplay is timeless. Space Invaders, for those unaware, is an arcade classic with a pretty simple idea - repel a slowly-descending force of aliens with your rolling turret. The action marches to a constant "heartbeat" that grows faster as you defeat enemies, with their movement and shots becoming faster and more aggressive as their numbers dwindle. You have four shields to hide behind that absorb their bullets but slowly weaken as they do, and should they deplete your turrets or manage to land, it's game over. Occasionally a UFO also flies overhead that awards a variable number of points should you manage to hit it. A simple yet incredibly addictive game no matter what format it's on.
