20 NES Games I Loved as a Kid

2. The Legend of Zelda – What is there to say about this? It's a classic. Still, I did my friend Daniel wrong here. We had made it to Gannon, and agreed that we wouldn't play until the next time we slept over at each other's house. And what did I do but break our agreement, and beat him anyway. Alone. My friend was not pleased. (I'm sorry, buddy! I was a dumb kid.)

 

3. Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link – God, how I loved this game. It was trashed by many as being too different from the original, but I still like it even today. The music is great, really immersive, and the quality is very good. I've still played it as an adult, and still find it to be fun. I've beaten it enough time that it has lost its appeal, but it sure brings back good memories.

 

4. Rygar – Yeah, that is one weird-ass weapon the dude has got. But back then, I didn't question it too much. I was having too much fun exploring the game. And there was a lot to explore. It took a while to level up in this game, but once you did, it was worth it.

 

5. Metroid – My favorite of all time. I've beaten the Mother Brain so many times by now that I could probably do it in my sleep. This was the first really open, exploratory game that I ever played. It's still one of the best.

 

6. Metal Gear – "You must allow yourself to be captured." How, goddamnit! HOW??? That was the infuriating question in this game. Nevermind that it had weird-named characters like "Revolver Ocelot". How to get captured? I love how this game starts like Rambo 2, where you've got nothing but a knife. What better way to send a commando into battle? I understand that's standard procedure for our soldiers in Iraq.

 

7. Ikari Warriors – The game is really cheesy, not to mention slow and clunky. But it has a certain charm, and as far as co-op games go on the NES, it was one of the best. A nice gem by SNK, nearly identical to their other game, Guerrilla War.

 

8. Contra – What a great game. The best NES co-op game ever! And who could ever forget the code? Yeah, you know it by heart too. Repeat it with me, "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, start." If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you are not worthy to be in my presence. Stop reading this blog and get off this page. Now.

 

9. Life Force – Another great co-op game, also by Konami (weren't they the best?). This oen also made use of THE CODE. And it's a good thing too, because otherwise I don't know how anyone could survive this Gradius retread.

 

10. Castlevania II – The first game was great, and so was the third. But I still like the 2nd best. It really opened up the world for exploration, giving a sense of adventure that the first game lacked. Sure, it had some miss-steps, like no bosses and villagers that gave useless advice ("Go knock a hole in the wall with your head."). And who the heck would know what to do with the crystals without a walkthrough? But other than that, the game was awesome. The Morning Star and Flame whips were the best.

 

11. Double Dragon – The first Double Dragon was one of those games that just stay with you no matter what. There was nothing quite so satisfying as knocking the knife out of someone's hands, then throwing it across the screen. Or picking up a bat and beating the shit out of Linda. The drop kicks were great. It set the standard for a lot of fighting games that followed, only outdoing itself with Double Dragon 2. The music is some of the best around, too. I can still remember it to this day.

 

12. Blaster Master – The cute tale of a boy and his frog. And a hole in the ground. And a futuristic car named Sophia. And weird aliens. And a strange fight to the death. With no place to save... This game was a lot of fun. One of those games you have to play for like 8 hours straight to beat, not that I ever did.

 

13. Ninja Gaiden – One of the all-time greats, in my opinion. It featured some of the best play control in any game, with platforming combined with wall-jumping – something that had not been done up to then. It also pioneered a new era of games by introducing the cut-scene. This game had some epic cut scenes. The "story" was just as important as the actual game. Another hallmark of the series was the difficulty. I didn't beat it until I was about 30 years old. It's still a great game.

 

14. Wizards and Warriors – This little gem featured treasure chests with lots of cool items. Followed later by a sequel that was better polished, but not as much fun. I loved this game.

 

15. Trojan – Back in the day, I was a sucker for cover art. I bought (or whined to relatives for) a lot of games based on cover art alone. This was one of those, but lucky for me this one turned out to be good. It's hard, but fun. A Capcom classic.

 

16. Kung Fu – I'm surprised that this one isn't available for download in the Wii virtual console store yet. It's a very fun game. Nothing beats the Bruce Li-inspired cries as you kick and punch the enemy. It's a simple one, like all the rest of the initial NES launch titles were. I wish you could still get it.

 

17. Bionic Commando – The remake on the Xbox Live marketplace is a lot of fun, and pretty much stays totally true to the original. This was the first game that introduced an intuitive swinging dynamic, rather than jumping. It's a hard game, well worth trying out.

 

18. The Goonies II – Yeah, it's cheesy. And whatever happened to The Goonies 1? (It was an arcade game, if you must know.) But with the "Goonies Are Good Enough" soundtrack by Cyndi Lauper playing in the background – midi style, of course – you knew you were playing a great game! It had some shortcomings, in hindsight. But there was a lot to explore and do.

 

19. Rambo – Roughly covering the events of films 2 and 3, this game's graphical depiction of Sylvester Stallone has to be the worst ever. But it was still a fun game, with NPC, a storyline, and cut scenes. Playing it recently, I noticed that the gameplay is almost a direct rip-off of Zelda 2, complete with identical spider-type enemies in caves. But that's forgivable, considering how good Zelda 2 is. Again, why did they send Rambo into combat armed with only a knife? Because that's how it was in the movie, of course! The machine guns you get later on more than make up for it. The grenades were pretty shitty, though.

 

20. Friday the 13th – This game still manages to scare me, even today. Every time Jason pops out, scary music jumps out at you and you are almost instantly dead. And Jason attacking little children? This game wouldn't pass the ratings board in this day and age, and I'm surprised it was made at all. I'll be the first to say that the gameplay was notoriously fucked-up, with little to no play control and ill-defined objectives. And yes, you have to kill Jason THREE times! But I still love it. As an adult, I came to master it. A good playthrough can take an hour or more. With only 6 counselors, it's important to upgrade weapons as quickly as possible, and make sure all your fat, slow ones are well-equipped. You also have to map out the woods as quickly as you can, and fight Jason's mother for the sweater or almighty pitchfork. The time goes quickly in real life, as you are constantly racing against the clock either to find healing items or to save kids from Jason. It's an underrated gem to me, but it's not for everyone.

 

 

That is all. Carry on.