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