Honorable Mentions

Bionic Commando

Brandon DeWitt
Bionic Commando was unique. It was the best NES game for me because it was in this game that I found my gamer's niche. When my friends came over, I could show off my effortless swinging and chuckle as they fumbled with the buttons trying to find a way to jump. Initially, the game frustrated me, but I held on, waded through humiliating failures, and eventually learned how to finesse the grappling hook and time my swings to give me some thrilling aerial lifts that let my imagination soar. It rewarded your efforts with surprising story developments and some cool weapon upgrades. Here's hoping the game will be remade in its tried-and-true side scrolling style.

Blaster Master

yellownumber5
The labyrinthine and diverse maps could prove frustrating at times, but smooth gameplay, rewarding exploration, and an ubergadgety tank make this an addicting title. No other game matched the same level of satisfaction when finally seeing the ending credits.



Crystalis

AlphaSigma
Crystalis is an incredible game with graphics and sound ahead of its time. It has a swordsman that uses 4 elemental swords, monsters ranging from vampires to giant bugs, an evil empire, and a floating tower. The storyline is simple, with its 'save the world' mentality, but complex and serious, with its plot twists and character deaths. Crystalis is a decent challenge, which makes the game very entertaining. It is also not a very long game, so players will find themselves playing the game more than once. Crystalis is an action RPG you can not miss.

Life Force

Jesse Edgar
This game was tough but not like the typical "I have no idea what I am supposed to do here" tough. It was all about hand/eye coordination. EXCELLENT music, addictive gameplay, excellent graphics (for its time), and smooth playability make this game a 10 in my book. Life Force is probably the most memorable game from that era.


Bad Dudes

hungrycat
"The president has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to get him back?" That's either pure genius or completely stupid. I'm not sure.





Sound Off...

Have you already voted but will never tire of talking about the NES? Did you not get a chance to vote but want to sound off about your own favorites? Feel free to talk about the GameSpot's Top Ten list, the Readers' Choice Top Ten list or anything NES right here.

760 Comments

  • geedotherodian

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 1:08 am PT

    I always liked kirby's adventure

  • worubouk

    Posted Apr 26, 2008 1:07 pm PT

    Good Games.. Heres my top five as everyone seems to be making them:

    1. Super Mario Bros. 1 (Was playing it a few hours ago, its still one of my favorite games)

    2. Dragon Warrior I (I spent three to five years playing this game as a kid... Oh the memories)

    3. Super Mario Bros. 3 (I like this one too, I have the copy for GBA)

    4. Dream Master (Very under rated game, I loved this game as a kid even though I could barely get past level 1_

    5. Megaman Two (I remember playing this at my Grandma's house when I was little... Good Times)


    Hounorable Mention: Duck Hunt (At the time... no wait even now this is a great game)

  • PS2_PC_FAN

    Posted Feb 29, 2008 7:55 pm PT

    Super Contra was a great sequel that I still play today.

  • Adarok

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 12:09 pm PT

    mario 3!!!

  • ZERO-UNIT

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 9:50 pm PT

    midines,,.. maybe? not really a game tho,

  • d0ctorb

    Posted Mar 13, 2007 7:50 am PT

    Where is Techmo Bowl/Techmo Superbowl?

  • johnstca

    Posted Mar 10, 2007 9:13 am PT

    The list is great, but how 'bout Dragon Quest for an honorable mention? Also, this game being offered for FREE with subscription to Nintendo Power has to be the best deal of all time!

  • sebaste

    Posted Mar 5, 2007 7:28 pm PT

    1. Super Mario Brothers 3
    2. Castle Vania
    3. Rock Man
    4. Contra
    5. Legend of Cage
    6. Tween Bee
    7. PAC MAN
    8. Chip and Dale RR
    9. Circus
    10.Karateka

  • Spartan-1137

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 7:41 pm PT

    Ninja gaiden
    Duck Hunt Zelda
    .............they are all great !!!!!

  • Spartan-1137

    Posted Feb 27, 2007 7:30 pm PT

    1.Super Mario Brothers
    2.The Legend of Zelda
    3.Metroid
    4.Final Fantasy
    5.Duck Hunt (Of Course).LOL this game is awsome, it should come out for the new systems

  • KitsuneStar

    Posted Feb 7, 2007 6:42 pm PT

    Good lord, I'd nearly be afraid to make a comment here. My personal favorites always ended up being so different that people think I'm intentionally being contrary... But hey, it's only the internet, so why not?

    10. Vice Project Doom. Excellent music and a fun action game on top of it. It may not have the name value of a Ninja Gaiden, but it didn't mind varying things up between stages, either.
    9. Power Blade. Another overlooked action sidescroller. It probably didn't help that the main character looked like Arnold.
    8. Tecmo Super Bowl. Still the most fun Football (not Soccer) game out there.
    7. Super Spy Hunter. Interesting vertical-scroll shooter which in reality was not a Spy Hunter game at all, but still good.
    6. StarTropics 2 : Zoda's Revenge.
    5. Low G-Man
    4. Super C
    3. River City Ransom
    2. Crystalis
    1. Rollerball

  • Supperdude9

    Posted Feb 5, 2007 8:07 pm PT

    -- The Goonies 2. Now that game was challenging. Its adventure gameplay would have you playing for hours on end, even when you do know where to go! -- Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest. Booya. The Resident Evil series may have made the Survival-Horror genre, but Castlevania pretty much made the horror genre of gaming. And Castlevania 2 was the best of the series.

  • sluggo123

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 6:58 pm PT

    BATTLETOADS

  • JaMeS4418

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 2:28 pm PT

    I need to buy more NES games

  • imjusthatawsum

    Posted Jan 20, 2007 9:11 am PT

    I definitely agree with the top 3, but come on! Metroid at 8? That deserves to be #4!

  • strawberryheart

    Posted Jan 14, 2007 8:11 pm PT

    1.Super Mario Bro. (Its-a-me, a-Mario)
    2.Legend of Zelda (Adventure.
    3.Kirby (the easiest game of ALL TIME!!)
    4.Chip and Dale RR (yes,number three,its awesome!!!)
    5.Dungons and Dragons (I love those two bosses you can kick off the convery belt. Ha,ha,ha.)

    Honorable.
    Jackel (you can run people OVER!!!!)
    The Lone Ranger (Away Silver, AWAY!!!)
    Big Nose the Caveman (it was in Gold)

  • belfador

    Posted Jan 14, 2007 1:00 pm PT

    I'm Spanish and in these years the information about games and the stores that sold videogames, at least in my town, were so few and so bad... so, I have my very own favourite list with very little classic/great games. Here we go!: #1 Castlevania 2. God!, i'm suffering nightmares about this game today. Fear, loneliness and a wip were my partners in the search of the body parts of Dracula... :S #2 World Champ. I love boxing simulators, the punch-out franchise is good for me, but this game is great! Train, Fight, Train, Fight until the top! #3 Captain Tsubasa. I don't know exactly what name has this game in my country, also the main characters were replaced with Robin and others but... it was Captain Tsubasa in a Strategic-RPG-Soccer Game!!! Too Great! #4 Konami Hyper Soccer. (Sorry, and yes, I love football[soccer]). The very real, first and unique father of Internacional Superstar Soccer and, in some way, of Pro Evolution Soccer. So great! #5 Super Mario Bros. & Duck Hunt. The first cartdrigde I owned and two of the best games of the history. Classics!! #6 Adventures of Lolo 3. Great puzzle game with a great chara #7 Championship Rally. A great racing game in top perspective, with lot of tracks. Good Control, good music and good feeling. Great!! #8 Super Mario Bros. 3. Nothing to say. Great Classic!!! #9 Pro Wrestling. Poor graphics, funny movementes, but great gameplay. So great!! #10 Kung-Fu. The first game that I buyed. So great!!!

  • pixiedust35147

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 11:42 am PT

    I think that Zombies Ate my Neighbors was a great game and it should have made at least honorable mentions. but its ok

  • aman27deep

    Posted Jan 11, 2007 10:00 pm PT

    these games were quite good!!!!!!!

  • StripesOrBars

    Posted Jan 9, 2007 1:24 pm PT

    I cant believe Chip and Dale and or DarkWing Duck wasn't at least an honorable mention. . .

  • ILikeGames001

    Posted Jan 7, 2007 10:07 am PT

    Man I miss playing these games. I have my NES upstairs but it doesn't work very good. I'm guessing the pins are messed up or something.

  • dadistiller

    Posted Jan 6, 2007 1:54 am PT

    my top 5:

    mario3
    zelda
    contra
    super dodge ball
    ice hockey

  • HawksNDoves

    Posted Jan 5, 2007 1:47 pm PT

    What? No StarTropics? That should be in the top 5 at least...

  • vicsrealms

    Posted Dec 22, 2006 3:40 pm PT

    Final Fantasy #4? Please, that was a hell of a lot better than Super Mario or even Zelda. Contra and Metroid should have been moved up as well. Anything with Mario in it shouldn't even be in the top 50 games. They even left out the Dragon Warrior series. I would have said:

    1. Final Fantasy
    2. Metroid
    3. Contra
    4. Dragon Warrior
    ......
    50. Super Mario Brothers

  • bg_nyc

    Posted Dec 21, 2006 8:28 am PT

    Double Dragon?!?! Blades of Steel?!?! Ice Hockey?!?! 10-yard fight?!?! Kid Icarus?!?! Mike Tyson's Punch Out as to be #1, with Super Mario Bros a close second.

  • formaldehyde27

    Posted Dec 18, 2006 6:13 pm PT

    I still play blaster master and i can still beat the game

  • skywalker333

    Posted Dec 17, 2006 6:26 am PT

    duckhunt... omg this took me decades ago!

  • friscom99

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 6:37 pm PT

    too many games for me to list =( Its good to see that some of my favorites were on here: Zelda, Contra, Super mario 1 & 3, Final Fantasy. Castlevania should have been on here. Destiny of an Emperor too. Sadly I didnt get to play River City Ransom till emulation =( I never heard of it till my freshman year of high school, my friends were like, "you never played River City Ransom?!@??!" haha hope that one comes out for Wii virtual console

  • dudeicon

    Posted Dec 15, 2006 6:02 pm PT

    I have to give cred to one of my most favorite NES River City Ransom! When I was a young boy a buddy and I would have sleep overs playing that all night!

  • NoLimitJay1

    Posted Dec 14, 2006 10:24 am PT

    Castlevania 1,2 and 3, Kid Icarus, Balloon Fight, Ice Climbers (THAT was the first true co-op), Battletoads, Fester's quest, Dr. Mario, Marble Madness, TmnT, Ice Hockey, RBI Baseball, Tecmo Bowl, Rygar

    Those games deserve honorable mention if not more.

  • dr3b

    Posted Dec 14, 2006 4:33 am PT

    Dragon Warrior, Double Dragon, and Castlevania should all be on the list, or at least get honourable mentions and are better than all of the other honourable mentions listed. The only honourable mention that deserves to be on that list, is Bionic Commando -that was a good game.

  • legenderysoldie

    Posted Dec 13, 2006 8:40 pm PT

    1. mario bros 3
    2. super C
    3. punch out
    4. double dragon
    5. legend of zelda

  • folger1up

    Posted Dec 13, 2006 4:24 pm PT

    Top Five Games for the Nintendo Entertainment System

    Everyone has their own childhood memories that they cherish--scoring that first touchdown in a flag football game, making friends on your first day of school, and finally sticking it to that annoying boss that you knew you could kill if you just kept trying. In case you didn’t notice, the third example comes from video games. One of my favorite memories as a kid was exploring all the different worlds that the little gray box would unfold before me. I have ranked the following five games based on my nostalgic memories of playing them for the first time and how playable they are today.

    #5--Baseball Stars
    Who needs a sports license? Back in the late ‘80’s video baseball fans didn’t have the yearly updated rosters of today’s modern sports games. We were happy with players that actually looked like people, let alone recognizable sports icons. One game that didn’t need licensed sports teams to succeed was Baseball Stars, produced by SNK in 1989. With fictitious teams like the Ghastly Monsters and the Lovely Ladies, who needs the Royals or the Blue Jays?
    I personally loved this game because it was the first sports game in which you could hire and fire players and build their statistics (such as their fielding and hitting abilities). There’s just something about building up super teams that could destroy any opposition that was very satisfying. I also had countless hours of fun pummeling my dad in this game. He didn’t regularly play video games, but he’d always have time to play a game of Baseball Stars with me.

    #4--Contra
    Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, select, start. If you’ve ever played a game produced by Konami, you’ll know this code. Originally found in an earlier game (Gradius), Contra made it famous as the thirty man cheat code that made this otherwise frustrating side-scrolling shooter a breeze to beat. Although easy as pie with the cheat code, this game was still incredibly fun because of its two-player simultaneous option that allowed you to tackle the invading aliens of Red Falcon with a friend. The power-ups to your weapon, such as the laser and the spread shot, were also inventive.
    I can’t tell you how many friends I made in 4th grade because I could play Contra. People I never would’ve even spoken to became known to me because they wanted my help to beat the game. I was invited over to their house to play a little Contra, and the rest is history.

    #3--Metroid
    “He’s a girl?” This game probably caused more pre-pubescent grade school kids to yell this at their televisions than any other video game before or since. Forget the fact that this game was the first non-linear adventure game where you found power-ups for your character as you explored the alien planet Zebes. Forget that this was also one of the first games to employ a password system to save your progress. Forget that the game’s end boss (Mother Brain) was one of the most memorable boss battles of all time. This game had thousands of players shocked after watching the end credits and realizing that they had been guiding the main character, Samus Aran, this entire time completely oblivious to the fact that he was, in fact, female. This game did more for girl power than the Spice Girls ever did.
    This was the first game that I had to finally break down and buy the strategy guide for. The game’s intertwining paths and overlapping levels were a little too much for my third grade brain. After attempting to make several of my own maps by hand by using graph paper, I finally gave up and headed off to K-Mart to buy the guide. Although I’d read it over and over whenever we’d visit the store, I soon realized that looking at it for five minutes a week just wasn’t going to cut it. I still have the guide.

    #2--Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!!
    It is fairly accepted among the NES geeks of the world that one of the hardest bosses ever to be included in a video game was Mike Tyson. The final boss of his own self-named game, Tyson was impossibly frustrating. His game, however, was one of the most entertaining and fun sports games that I have ever played, and is still considered by many to be the best boxing game to date. With characters from all over the world and creative names like “Bald Bull” and “King Hippo,” this game had tons of personality to spare.
    This is the one game that I had to let go. My secret shame of my Nintendo-playing era is that I never beat Mike Tyson. Many years later I re-purchased the game determined to take Tyson down. I beat the game in three days. It was one of the most satisfying endings to a video game that I have ever seen.

    #1--The Legend of Zelda
    Anyone who knows video games couldn’t dispute placing Zelda at the top of the list. This game is probably the most innovative NES cartridge in existence. It was the first to offer a battery back up system, which enabled a player to save his progress. This made it possible for games to take hours or days to complete instead of minutes. It also was one of the first games to allow the player to freely explore an existing world and make sense of it all. Many exploration games have come since, but Zelda was the first.
    My reasons for listing this game as number one are almost too numerous to list. I play it regularly and annually, even though I have most of the game’s items and dungeons committed to memory. The graphics and sound are, by modern standards, horrific, but there’s just something about them that feels timeless. It’s the first game that I bought for myself right after receiving a Nintendo for Christmas when I was seven years old. Playing this game made me realize that I would be playing video games for a very, very long time to come.

  • Lisandro_v22

    Posted Dec 7, 2006 12:32 pm PT

    1- punch out
    2- supermario
    3- Duck hunt
    4- the one with the 2 tanks i dont remember the name

  • Lisandro_v22

    Posted Dec 7, 2006 12:31 pm PT

    1- punch out
    2- supermario
    3- Duck hunt
    4- the one with the 2 tanks i dont remember the name

  • great_punisher

    Posted Dec 4, 2006 2:28 pm PT

    mmm bionic comand, hope i can buy it from the wii virtual shop, but i dunno where in my country can get them

  • calicow

    Posted Dec 2, 2006 7:57 pm PT

    Nice list, but the first Super Mario Bros. should have been ranked #1, that game rocks.

  • billycrack

    Posted Dec 2, 2006 4:20 am PT

    I haven't played much of NES games named here, but I would go back playin Zelda more than SMario3. Now how about a TopTen SNES? THAT'd be NICE!

    (I was like 6 whan the NES came out)

  • godigoshin

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 7:58 pm PT

    where the hell is Avoid the Noid? greatest pizza based game i have ever played.

  • OtaconRex

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 3:55 pm PT

    GAMESPOT U should find really NES players like us (when the editors born? in the 90s?)
    NES GREAT GAMES CONTRA2
    METAL GEAR
    MEGAMAN 3 and 4
    BURGER TIME
    DONKEY KONG Jr.
    GUERRILLA WAR
    CASTLEVANIA
    TMNT 2,3
    NINTENDO SOCCER WORLD CUP
    DOUBLE DRAGON 2
    CHIP and DALE
    DUCK TALES
    WOLVERINE
    BATMAN REVENGE OF JOKER
    WEREWOLF
    and all SUPER MARIOS

  • FATMAN87

    Posted Nov 21, 2006 11:57 pm PT

    what about one of the double dragon games? (not including III).

  • Galiard

    Posted Nov 13, 2006 11:46 am PT

    How can Final Fantasy be there but not, Dragon Warrior. Final Fantasy series wasn't good till it hit the SNES.

    Dragon warrior 1 > Final Fantasy 1

  • Jonnyd108

    Posted Nov 10, 2006 11:49 am PT

    what about McKids? anyone remember that?

  • rallykupojr

    Posted Nov 9, 2006 10:35 pm PT

    They forgot Tecmo Bowl and RC Pro AM 2.

  • LexLas

    Posted Nov 9, 2006 8:40 am PT

    Double Dragon was one of my favorites. Too bad it didn't make the list.

  • Chadner

    Posted Nov 1, 2006 3:03 pm PT

    What about R/C Pro Am? A game called "Carnov" would be my #1. I agree with most of the choices and I still own FF, Super M 1,2,and 3, Zelda, and Contra. up,up,down,down,left,right,left, right,B,A,START.

  • canialblasm

    Posted Nov 1, 2006 12:54 pm PT

    super mario bros should have won! that was the best game of all time!

  • tunij

    Posted Oct 28, 2006 8:21 pm PT

    1- Super Mario Bros. 3
    2- Duck Hunt
    3- Exitebike
    4- Ballon Fight

  • Dysantic

    Posted Oct 26, 2006 9:31 pm PT

    Agree completely