Top 5 NES Games

I've been writing these blogs for several years now, and it just hit me that I've done top 5 games lists for several consoles, but not my favorite console of all-time: the NES. It's time to change that. The only problem is that there are so many NES games in contention for this that I can't possibly make a top 5 list without also listing several honorable mentions.

For some of these games, nostalgia plays a large role, as I'm sure they don't hold up as well as I think they do, but that's what is so great about nostalgia. I don't want to revisit certain games that I loved as a kid and find that "oh hey, this game is actually kind of terrible." I'm sorry Monster Party, you will forever hold a special place in my heart, and I appreciate that quirky humor of yours, but you're not actually a very good game.

Alright, I take it back. You're pretty great.

The games on this list aren't going to shock anyone as it's going to be very similar to what you would find on any top 5 NES games list, it just goes to show that in the early generations of console gaming, the best games stood out from the pack. Let's begin.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

Castlevania

Of all the games that just barely missed the top spots, this is the one that I shocked myself with the most. Usually when I make these lists, the top 5 starts off with the games that my gut instinct tells me, then I evaluate the other contenders and try to be as objective as possible.

Castlevania is an all-time favorite series for me, but when it comes right down to it, the original game, as much as I still love the music and tone, the gameplay doesn't hold up quite as well as five-year-old Dustin remembers. When I'm in the mood to play a Castlevania game, there are probably five or more other games I would choose ahead of this one. Still a great game, and another that holds a very sentimental place in my heart, just not up to snuff to make it to the top 5.

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

The game that's so exciting that it required not one, but TWO exclamation points!! Or maybe those exclamation points represent the two seconds that it takes to realize that I'll never beat Mike Tyson. Regardless, this classic still holds up very well today. They improved on the formula in Super Punch-Out!! and then perfected it in Punch-Out!! on the Wii, but this one is still worth popping in every once in a while.

And if you're that guy who says things like "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! is classic Nintendo racism at its finest," then I will kindly ask you to not be that guy.

Bubble Bobble

I'm not good at Bubble Bobble, which is why it's good that it has a lot of other things that work in its favor. The songs...well, song, is catchy, it's a great co-op experience, and the characters are super adorable. One hundred unique levels of bubble-popping fun with no need to go to a level screen or map, and infinite continues for those of us that don't want something as trivial as death to impede our progress.

Batman

This might still be the gold standard of movie-licensed tie-in games. It captures the tone of Tim Burton's iconic 1989 Batman film perfectly. It may not capture anything else about the film aside from a few cutscenes, but the tone? Nailed it.

This is a tough game, with Joker being so unfair that he's nearly impossible, but the dark visuals and moody music add so much to the experience that the difficulty can be overlooked, showing that Sunsoft had mastered the NES architecture. I did an entire video on this game, which you can watch here.

Felix The Cat

Another one that I did a video on, Felix the Cat is a game that I hadn't played prior to making that video, but it instantly became one of my favorite games on the system. I have no ties to the Felix the Cat character, and this game didn't make me suddenly want to learn more about Felix, but you can't argue with quality, and that's what you get in this package.

The game has a ton of personality with fun power-ups, good music, and it changes up the level design often by giving you standard platforming, flying, and swimming levels. Buying the actual cartridge these days is going to set you back a pretty penny, so get this one on an emulator and give it a whirl, it shouldn't take you more than an hour.

Super Spike V'Ball

I feel like this one stands out from the rest. I've never been a big volleyball guy, but Super Spike V'Ball is a game I played a lot as a kid and was delighted to find that it's still quite a fun game today. It's just a two-on-two beach volleyball game developed by Technos (most notable for developing Double Dragon) and its simplicity is its genius. One button to jump, one button to hit the ball, it doesn't get much simpler than that. It's arcade sports action done right.

And now, let's get on to the top 5 and what I consider to be the cream of the NES crop.

5. DuckTales

When I got married, I walked down the aisle with the "Moon Theme" playing, that's how great that song is. And yes, I had my own entrance, it's my day too! But the same can be said of every song in DuckTales. They're all memorable, including a stellar rendition of the show's theme song that plays on the title screen. You can't just hit "Start." You have to let that song play in its entirety before you begin playing.

It's well-known that Capcom made great games out of many Disney licenses, but DuckTales was their finest work on the NES. All five levels have their own personality, with (as already mentioned) a great accompanying musical number, hidden treasures, unique enemies and bosses, and characters from the show.

Using Scrooge McDuck to golf club rocks or various debris into enemies is fun, but the pogo bounce is what everyone remembers about the game. Not only is it fun to see how many enemies you can bounce off of in a row, but it gives the game an increased sense of speed and variety to ensure that you never get bored.

One thing that always bothered me, though, was that Scrooge lets Huey, Dewey, and Louie seemingly fall to their death in a mine cart.

4. Contra

When I started whittling down my list, I thought to myself "is Contra actually that good or is nostalgia playing too large of a role on this pick?" Like I said, I'm trying to be as objective as possible, but when it comes right down to it, Contra really is that good. Even today, it's still that good. It's opening level and accompanying track are so iconic not just for the NES, but for video games as a whole.

Talk to anyone who grew up with an NES, and they almost certainly have memories tied to Contra. The iconic "Konami Code" was used for several games, but everyone associates it with getting you 30 lives in Contra, which is why many refer to it as the "Contra Code" instead. It's simple run-and-gun action, but no one made it happen as smoothly and fluidly as Konami did here. Even though I think Contra III: The Alien Wars is a better game, it's the original game that everyone associates with the series.

It has one of the most immediately recognizable cover arts of all-time, borrowing quite heavily from Predator, Alien, and Rambo. I remember being amazed at the giant boss encounters, having never seen enemies that big before. Contra is pure, unadulterated machismo. Rip off your shirt, slap a headband on, and shoot some aliens, it doesn't get any more manly than that. You'll go in a boy (or a girl) and come out a man (or a man...that's not a typo).

3. Tecmo Super Bowl

The Raiders are banned. Bo Jackson is the Oddjob of Tecmo Super Bowl. If you choose the Raiders, your win is deemed illegitimate and will be rescinded faster than Louisville's national championship. By today's standard of football games, it looks inferior in every way, but I would still rather play this game than the latest Madden...or any Madden...or any other football game for that matter. Sometimes, less is more.

As someone who has always been more of a casual football fan, I appreciate that Tecmo Super Bowl doesn't expect me to know different types of offensive and defensive schemes. It's a step up from its predecessor, and what it adds is more than enough but not too much. They doubled the amount of plays to choose from, received the NFL team license (which the original did not have), making it the first NFL game on the NES to feature both real players and all 28 NFL teams.

Gameplay wise, both this game and the original are very similar, though Tecmo Super Bowl does have a more zoomed out camera, allowing you to survey more of the field at once, and the cutscenes during touchdowns, interceptions, field goal attempts, etc. are more intricate and look more like actual cutscenes rather than a slideshow. There's a reason that Tecmo Super Bowl still has a rabid fan base that updates the game every year to feature current rosters and teams, and it's because this classic has never gone out of style. It still plays, sounds, and feels as good as it did when I was small lad.

2. Mega Man II

The original Mega Man is a flawed but satisfactory game. It has its annoying moments, like the several disappearing block sections and certain areas where I swear its impossible to not take a hit, but it was still a pretty good game by 1987 standards. The home console industry was just starting to climb its way back into the public consciousness after the crash of 1983, and Mega Man played a large role in that endeavor.

Mega Man didn't break any sales records, but the team behind its development knew they could improve on their formula, and Capcom agreed to let them create a sequel on their own time as long as it didn't interfere with other games they were developing for the company, and we can all be glad that they did, because Mega Man II is one of the premier games on the NES and still one of the best games in the entire franchise.

When you think of the iconic heroes associated with the NES, your first thoughts are naturally of Mario and Link, but there's a good chance that the next one you think of is the Blue Bomber, and Mega Man II is what truly put him on the map. It certainly wasn't the box art that did it.

It featured one of the best soundtracks on the system, improved level and boss design, new items and abilities that allow Mega Man to reach previously inaccessible areas, just about every aspect of the first game was given a facelift or overhaul, and it all came together in a masterful way.

1. Super Mario Bros. 3

Is this the most obvious number one pick I could have given? Absolutely. This does not surprise anyone, but my reasoning is simple: This game changed my life. I don't think I can say that about any other video game I've ever played. Even though Super Mario World is my favorite game of all-time, it didn't do to me what SMB3 did.

I was already well on the hype train after the release of the cinematic masterpiece that is The Wizard, and I'll never forget that Christmas when I tore through the wrapping paper to see the bright yellow box art adorned with Raccoon Mario staring back at me. This was the first game I ever looked forward to. I had rented and played other great games, but the anticipation I had for SMB3 was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

My family and I had put a lot of miles onto our Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridge, and Super Mario Bros. 2 was probably the game we rented more than any other, but the first time I took flight as Raccoon Mario in Level 1-1, it completely changed the way I saw video games. Secrets could now--quite literally--be anywhere. Mario could be contained no longer. Cue Queen's "I Want To Break Free" right here.

It helps that SMB3 plays amazingly, but what I remember most is how weird I thought the game was. What's up with the Tanooki suit? What even is a Tanooki? What's up with that card matching minigame you get every few levels? What's up with Kuribo's shoe? What's up with the weird "Boo Bars" in that one Fortress level? What's up with that castle in World 5 that takes you up into the clouds where the rest of the levels are? I don't know what's up with any of it. But what I do know is that it's all awesome!

Each world had its own distinct theme (like the Water World, the Giant World, etc.), an inventory system was added so you can hold on to all of those awesome new ability suits for the proper occasion, the airship's snail's-crawl pace and foreboding score made it feel like you were on your way to a legitimately dangerous encounter. I feel like I could go on and on and never fully capture everything that made SMB3 one of the most revered games of all time.

When it comes to video games, there aren't many that I have as many fond memories with as I do with Super Mario Bros. 3.

Thanks for reading, here's some other things I do that you can check out:
Error Machine Podcast
Error Machine YouTube Channel

-TheDustinThomas

The Internal Struggle of the "Retired" Professional Wrestler

I'm not exactly sure why I'm deciding to write this. I guess, if anything, it'll be cathartic for me. I've found myself thinking more and more about a chapter of my life that has been closed for almost four and a half years. I find myself not thinking about what my career was, but rather, what it could have been. What it should have been.

While the great majority of the reason I decided to hang up my boots in terms of being an active professional wrestler is due to an ever-present back injury that continued to worsen over the years, there were certainly other reasons that played a role in that decision. Chief among those reasons was bitterness. For the final couple of years of my career, I worked so hard to get into the best shape of my life. If you knew me at the time, trust me, you knew I was in great shape, because I made sure everyone knew it. But it just seemed like no matter what I did, I just couldn't get that big break.

I worked hard to improve my in-ring ability, my look, my promos, etc. I was constantly thinking of new angles, new characters, spots I wanted to try. Unfortunately, those angles and characters I thought up, for one reason or another, never came to fruition. I always knew my in-ring work was solid, and I had a few times where I thought it was going to lead to a bigger stage. They didn't, but I was always encouraged by those possibilities. I would send tapes and 8x10s to every major wrestling company I could think of, but after months of no response, that encouragement waned and bitterness began to set in.

Many men and women that I came up in the business with have had their fair share of success, and I would find myself envious. It wasn't out of dislike for anyone, but more of a "I'm just as good as them" kind of thing. Looking back, I definitely wasn't as good as them, but that's what my mentality was as a brash, young professional wrestler.

In late 2011, I had a high profile match (at least locally) with a very well-known wrestling star. After the match was over, he told me that our match was his favorite that he had had in years. I'm sure he was being slightly hyperbolic, but he was very complimentary of my work and our match. Another man (who I respect to no end) who spent some time in developmental for WWE said in an interview that he thought I had what it took to go to the next level. At that time I felt like there was nothing that could stop me.

Just over a year later, another well-known wrestling star essentially told me that I was a garbage wrestler and that he saw nothing in me. I shouldn't have let that one negative voice be so loud when so many other voices were still encouraging me, but by that time my back was already affecting my day-to-day life, I had just gotten married, and other things in my life were becoming more important to me. I still wrestled for about another 7 months, but that day was the day I officially checked out.

I stopped caring about wrestling. I stopped watching it. I stopped following it. I think I've watched a total of three wrestling shows since that day. My entire exposure to the business now is the few friends I follow on social media and occasionally opening the Bleacher Report app on my phone. I've wrestled a handful of matches for the NWF since then, but that's been it.

But here's the crazy thing about professional wrestling: I still think about it every single day of my life. I cut promos in my head all the time. I hear a song and think about what kind of character would use it as entrance music. I still come up with new gimmicks and envision the ring gear to go along with it. I may not recognize it as part of my life anymore, but I can't escape it. It's like the crazy ex-girlfriend that keeps trying to weasel her way back into your life.

Back in 2014, I made it far enough in WWE's Tough Enough to get a Skype interview with a casting agent for the show. Obviously, I didn't make it, but in my head I constantly wonder what if I did? What would have happened? I've always found it ironic that I made it closer to WWE after I "retired" than I ever did while actively pursuing it.

I'll read interviews or listen to podcasts from wrestlers that say they didn't catch their big break until they were in their mid-to-late 30s, and I think "I'm only 32, maybe something could happen if I returned for one more run." Then I lean forward in my chair and my back goes out, then reality sets back in.

Again, I don't know why I felt the need to write these thoughts down. It's not to get compliments from people saying that I should have made it, nor is it me throwing myself a pity party because it didn't work out. In the grand scheme of things, my career was a million times better than what I ever expected it to be, and better than what most people in the wrestling business get to experience. I had matches with Hall of Famers, WWE champions, wrestlers that are worldwide superstars, and some of the best friends I have are ones that I only know because of the insane theater that is professional wrestling. In all honesty, I owe the much better place in my life that I am right now to the wrestling business. Had it not been for professional wrestling (and a tattooed viking), I wouldn't have met my wife.

So what do I do with all of these thoughts? Do I just keep them pent up and occasionally cry on my little blog here? The last month's worth of matches during my active career were some of my favorites, mainly because I just didn't care anymore. I just wanted to go out there and have fun with my friends. Is that what I do then? Do I return to wrestling or maybe just wrestle occasionally with the mentality that it doesn't matter anymore and just go have fun? I've always loved performing and being in front of a camera, so do I try to wrestle again just to occasionally get that fix? I've always had the mindset that it's better to burn out than fade away. I never wanted to be the type of wrestler that couldn't leave it behind. Perhaps I feel like I still have something to prove, as I do sometimes feel like I never had the opportunity to truly showcase what I was capable of.

I honestly don't know what to do with all of this, and I think that's perhaps the real reason I'm writing this today. I have all of these thoughts and I have no idea what to do with them. This, my friends, is the internal struggle of at least this "retired" professional wrestler.