
83. Joy Mech Fight (Nintendo, 1993 in Japan)
Street Fighter II, while not the first fighting game ever made, is definitely the one that kicked the genre into high gear, and it seemed like everybody wanted to make their own version to cash in; from big companies to obscure eastern Asian pirate groups, everyone wanted a slice of that pie. Nintendo took their own crack at it on the NES - not exactly a practical system for it owing to strict memory and graphical limitations, but they found a way. By giving all the characters disconnected limbs, they could keep the gameplay fast and the animation smooth. It has a fairly long single-player campaign where you face off with progressively tougher waves of robots and make your way to the big boss at the end, but of course it also had a competitive two-player mode with eight playable robots with their own distinct special moves.
82. Akumajo Special: Boku Dracula-Kun (Konami, 1990 in Japan)
Konami spoofs themselves again with a game where you play as a kid version of Dracula out to defeat a challenger to his throne; namely, the demon Galamoth. Rather than a dark gothic feel this game is bright, colorful and silly, with upbeat takes on Castlevania tracks and some creative twists on familiar enemies and locations from the series. Dracula himself retains several of his distinct abilities, having an upgradable fireball attack and the ability to transform into a bat to maneuver through levels, and gains several more as well, like the ability to walk on ceilings or freeze enemies in ice. Between each stage you also get a variety of minigames to earn extra lives and power-ups. Just a fun, light-hearted spoof of its parent franchise that pays homage to everything great about it.
81. Final Fantasy (Square, 1990)
It's a story well-known to any serious RPG fan - Square was on the brink of financial ruin and they had one last chance to turn things around, so out came "Final Fantasy", its name chosen for that very reason (and also because their first choice, "Fighting Fantasy", was already taken). It ended up being a big hit and even found a dedicated audience abroad, kicking off a very popular franchise that continues to get sequels, spinoffs, remakes, remasters and reimaginings to this day. The original, like many JRPGs of the era, was heavily inspired by Wizardry, with a relatively simple story but complex dungeons, having to decipher clues from townspeople, and even letting you customize your party with four characters and six classes (which could later be upgraded to "prestige classes" that had more impressive powers). The NES version definitely isn't the best - a lot of spells and items just plain don't work as intended, and having to manually target each enemy so you don't waste turns was a pain. Still, it's a defining classic and worth a look, though I'd say get one of the newer versions instead if you want to do a full run-through.80. Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True! (ICOM, 1990)

79. Lemmings (DMA Design/Sunsoft, 1992)
Lemmings was an enormously popular puzzle game back in the early '90s, spawning numerous sequels, spinoffs and ports on just about every platform you could think of. Sunsoft did a great job on the NES port too, retaining the same gameplay as well as the high-quality animation and music that made it a hit on various computer platforms. The goal of the game is a simple one - get a quota of lemmings safely to the goal - and to that end you assign a few of them tasks like blocking the others from walking into hazards, giving them umbrellas to safely drop long distances, digging through dirt or building staircases to clear a path. Sounds simple enough, but it quickly becomes very challenging, with later levels requiring very careful planning and precision to complete. Still, Lemmings is a classic puzzle game, and is definitely worth a look if you somehow haven't played it already.
77. Journey to Silius (Sunsoft, 1990)
Journey to Silius is another highly-regarded title by Sunsoft, and it isn't hard to see why just from a screenshot - the game looked absolutely phenomenal for 1990. Large, stylish sprites, detailed backgrounds, polished mechanics and high quality music showed up too, all of which helped cement Sunsoft as one of the NES's premiere developers. A slightly less savory element to their games, though, was the punishing difficulty, and Journey to Silius is definitely no different there. Enemies require some very well-honed tactics to get past, ammo for your special weapons is rare to come by, health even moreso, and dying at any point (even at the stage boss) forces you to redo the entire gauntlet from the beginning. Bosses are no slouches either, often requiring extremely precise pattern-dodging and firing to get through intact. It's an impressive and very polished game, but it certainly feels like punishment at times too.
76. Dr. Mario (Nintendo, 1988)

75. Faxanadu (Hudson Soft, 1989)
A spinoff of Xanadu (the second game in Falcom's Dragon Slayer series, which itself never got a western release), Faxanadu is regarded as an overlooked classic these days. It's definitely one of the more unique and bizarre fantasy games on the platform, with a downright bizarre setting, some creepy enemies and some surprisingly good gameplay. Combining elements of platformers (complete with a number power-ups and hazardous items one must avoid) and RPG elements like spells,, experience points and armor upgrades, it has quite a bit to offer both action and RPG fans. It does have some slightly awkward controls and tricky jumps that require nearly pixel-perfect precision. Faxanadu was never a super popular game, but those who give it a chance have a good time in store.
74. Life Force (Konami, 1988)
Known as "Salamander" in Japan, Life Force is a spinoff of the Gradius franchise, featuring both side-scrolling and top-down scrolling gameplay and a similar power-up system. It definitely plays up the horror influence too, taking place in the body of a giant alien and having appropriately creepy, fleshy environments and bosses to square off against. The NES version, in addition to being heavily reworked from the arcade, was also notable at the time for featuring two-player simultaneous co-op, and surprisingly it shows little slowdown during it even when the action really heats up. But of course, Konami pulls no punches with the difficulty either - if you don't memorize the ins-and-outs of every battle and plan your movements carefully, you're not going to be able to finish this one.