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Top 25 Nintendo (NES) Games

Every one has a favorites list of games from their childhood and I’m no different. Being a child of the 80s I played a lot of Nintendo, a whole lot. The following is my top 25 games some are compulsory and some are little gems that just kept me entertained for hours.

25. Bad Dudes.

“Are you a bad enough dude to save the president?” Yes, yes I am. This game is on list only because I find the writing humorous. The 80s and 90s were filled with jems just like this, we lived in a world where games didn’t need to be good they just needed to exist and they were made by the boat load.

 
24. Hogans Ally

   Hogans Ally was one of the very few games which made use of the light gun, Nintendo was great about coming up with accessories and new play methods but not very good at the time about providing  the games to back them up. This game provided a lot of fun and was just as fun or more than duck hunt and didn’t feature a spiteful dog.

23. Pro Wrestling
   To date this is the only wrestling game I have ever played and as far as I know is still the best wrestling game ever made. The only licensed fighting game was the re-released mike tysons punch out it would be over a decade before licensed wrestling games would come around this leaves you playing as generic wrestler dudes and guy with a star mask (which is what most people chose in my memory of playing. Just good simple smack down fun.

22. Metal gear

Solid Snake is here and is ready to kick some ass. This game was perhaps one of the best series beginnings and has a solid place in a world of few good shoots and mostly gimick games

 
21. RC Pro-Am

RC Pro-am perhaps is one of the best classic racing/kart games of the time and was a blast to play against another person the tracks were just tricky enough to trip you up and allow for a challenge and the additional road hazards made for fun competitive game play.a

 
20. Friday the 13th

This game caused me no end of frustration and generated a twitch gaming anxiety that I did get from many games at the time. Always in a rush against the clock to save some jerky teens (that are likely engaging in sexual acts or the use of illicit substances) from being murdered by Jason.
Having to run or boat from one end of camp knowing that it’s ticking ever onward to what seems like an inevitable death for those teens got my heart pumping hard barely making it through the door to still have to face off against the beast him self.

19. river city ransom

Simpy one of the best brawlers of its time, the story wasn’t that great but was better than the majority of brawler games that were out at the time. And the characters followed the same tried and true formula of nearly identical looking guys in white shirts which we all know means those fuckers mean business.

 
18. Yo Noid

Yo Noid! comes in at a time of commercial tie ins and product licensing. The game features the one time mascot of Domino’s pizza. With the slogan of “Avoid the noid”, I’m still not sure what this had to do with pizza or how or why eating their pizza preventing the noid from coming around not knowing what the noid really does. More beyond that it’s unknown how this becomes a game. What is known is all of that aside the game was actually really fun to play and would kill many hours just mindlessly platforming along to get to the end of each level. Gimick games YaY.

 
17. Ninja Gaiden

The only competition that Shinobi had, ninja gaiden was a fun game with jumping and latching on to walls, being pitted against dogs, and throwing massive throwing stars, the game provided a slightly different play style and presented obstacles which kept game play challenging.

 
16. Battle Toads

  This is a game I have played on every system that it was released on, Battle toads is solid just fun brawler with mixed play mechanics such as repelling down a tunnel and racing along a subteranian brain layer (That;s what it looks like who knows what the hell was going on there.) This game would keep me and my brother locked in for hours just trying to get as far as we can with out dying, This game is definitely a great time waster.

 
15. Wizards and Warriors

Perhaps the first game I was introduced to on the system and the first one I ever beat as a child. It was fun to hack and slash… and jump… man their was a lot of jumping.. through levels killing all the bugs and monsters that would get in your way wizards barely played any part of this game but it didn’t matter no one really complained you had plenty of things to strike down wizards or not.

 
14. Master Blaster

  This is another game which really shinned through with mixed game mechanics splitting between scroller and top down shooter varying game play as you switch back and forth between the two characters of the game.

 
13. Contra

Contra pretty much defined and dominated the shoot some shit up category of gaming every console had their king shooter and this was nintendos. While fun played single player it was definitely more fun co-op blazing through the levels it was frustrating when the other player sucked making you have to raise your game but that was another fun aspect of this type of twitch shooting game play.

 
12. Bubble bobble

  The game was simple, capture evil murderous toys in bubble and then pop them. The game play while not complicated was tricky and had it’s own “oh shit” moments when the speed would increase or one of those toys started coming down a path you might not be able to avoid getting hit by them. Definitely a blast to play co-op competing for fruit and “kills” trying to top each others score.

 
11. Double Dragon

While this didn’t turn out to be a good movie, double dragon was one of the best side scrolling brawlers of this or any time. A well written story helped back what would be just another brawler as two brothers fight their way through the streets.

10. P.O.W – Prisoners of War

This game made me wonder exactly how large POW camps where because no mater how far you got it always seemed like you were still stuck in the middle of the damn camp. Dispite that or my poor memory of it I locked many hours playing this game and appreciate it as a challenging top down shooter.

 
9. Kid Icarus

Why this game didn’t end up further on my list I’m not sure. Kid icarus was a fun game and was a tricky platformer, my biggest fear or peeve was definitely the eggplants that would turn you into a walking… well eggplant leaving you defencless until you could make your way to a healing pit to break the cure and those things were not conveniently located either.

8. Castlevania

Whipping your way through monsters and bats, castlevania was a challenging game and always had me on the edge of my seat with the variety of special weapons keeping things interesting or hating when you lose a favored weapon by accidently picking up the next you can kill a lot of time while killing your way to dracula.

7. Super Mario Brothers 3

This game was a must have for any one. The introduction across the world level play and introduction of a host of new power ups this game was excellent with each different world offering even more challenge than had been in previous mario games.

6. Guerrilla Wars

This was perhaps one of the most fun top down shooters I have ever played with various weapon power ups and terrain this game never got boring and was just as fun alone as it is with a second player.

5. Mega Man (Whole Series)

The whole series of megaman gave hours of blasting fun getting new powers as you beat each boss along with some tricky level designs you really hated dr wily for creating all those damned robots.

Side note I guess the artist didn’t know that mega man doesn’t use a gun as he is shown on this package. Shrugs.

4. Legend of Zelda

Just a great game all around, the dungeons in this game keep that “I almost had it, just one more try” sort of game play alive and made for an exiting experience.

3. Super Mario Brothers 2

Mario 2 is definitely the odd man out as it doesn’t follow the same game play as the other mario games but seeing how it was basically mario using some other japanesse games game mechanics and that it was still fun this can be over looked. Plus where else are you going to go up against a cross dressing dinosaur.

2. Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles

  There was a point in my childhood where I wanted to be a ninja turtle and playing this game was about as close as that was going to get. This platformer was great fun with a lot of different environments and challenges (we all remember the bomb disarming in the sewer) kept the game play interesting.

1. Final Fantasy

Countless hours and days have been lost to this game. The starter of what is likely the longest running game franchise there has ever been. Building a team of adventures and fighting your way through the world. With endless ways to combine characters to do battle with made playing the game more interesting, the story lines in these games are also untouchable making a game more immersive  and making you part of the story.

Johnny March 21st, 2013

Posted In: VIdeo Games

Tags: game play, Nintendo

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