MY ‘HIGH 54’ Nintendo (NES) Games That Are Still Fun PLAYING NOW (+ 41 MORE GEMS TO MAKE IT AN EVEN 95, EH)
As I mentioned in my other ‘fave retro video games’ lists, 2020 was the year I got back into playing retro video games from my youth. This was heavily influenced by me ordering a Sega Mini to hook up to the tv I won at a Super Bowl party right before the world went on a long-running lockdown quarantine, but the thing that really kicked the new hobby up a notch was realizing that my Sega Mini could be ‘hacked’ to add ANY old retro video game from any old retro video game console. And once one goes down that online retro video game rabbit hole, one eventually realizes that one could have been playing any old retro video game right on one’s old iMac the whole time.
I guess that’s why they say hindsight is 2020.
And after blahg’n about some of my Sega Mini adventures, I started noticing that my most visited website pages, month after month, were my blog posts about retro video gaming (even though I am a ‘not a music blog, not not a music blog’), and most of those visits were coming from Google’rs.
So, since I also did a lot of searching for “best NES games” or “most underrated NES games” or “NES games that are still worth playing today” or “hidden gem NES games” once I was done googling the same “how to hack a sega mini” queries that have been directing people to my blahg quite consistently, I figured I should put together some console specific lists too… because SEO, innit?
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Please keep in mind that this list is not in a strict ranked order and it is definitely not an attempt at creating a “best NES games EVER” list (so prepare to adjust your “how could you not include ___?!” outrage appropriately). This is just a list of games that I still find personally enjoyable to play as an elder millennial in the 2020s & the ones that I find myself reaching for most often + it should be noted that I don’t really care much for button-mashing or turn based strategy RPG games (no matter how ‘critically acclaimed’ they are on the Youtubes & Reddits).
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AND NOW THAT WE’VE GOT ALL THE EXPLAINERS & DISCLAIMERS OUT of THE WAY… HERE’S MY LIST OF 54 NINTENDO (NES) GAMES THAT ARE STILL FUN TO PLAY TODAY (in whatever year it is now):
#1 SUPER MARIO BROS. + #2 SUPER MARIO BROS. 2 + #3 SUPER MARIO BROS. 3
It would be sacrilegious to make a ‘best NES’ list and not include a Super Mario Bros game — and that’s because Super Mario 1, 2 & 3 are bonafide classics that still hold up today. There’s not much else to say that hasn’t already been said, so I will just add a personal nugget and say that I think Super Mario 2 is my fave of the three. It’s not that the others aren’t as good, #1 is an OG legend and #3 is probably/technically the “best” of the three — BUT — I just enjoy playing #2 a bit more. I think it’s because it’s so much different than all the other Marios (probably because it was originally not meant to be a Super Mario game). Instead of jumping on baddies, you’re picking vegetables to throw at them, or you’re picking up the baddies themselves to throw at other baddies (so I guess you’re still jumping on baddies, but it’s different). You also get to pick from 4 different characters + all in all, it’s just got it’s own unique style and feel to it (but obviously ALL THREE Super Mario Bros games belong on the top shelf of any retro list, including this one).
*****
#4 TETRIS + #5 TETRIS 2
The thing about Tetris is that it’s kind of a perfect video game to just pick up at anytime and start playing for however much time you’re looking to kill. Highly addictive once you start dropping them blocks, so if you think you were just going to play for 10 minutes don’t be surprised if you end up getting sucked in for much longer. And this classic NES version from ‘89 is one of the better versions of Tetris you can play (and the Tetris 2 sequel adds the right kind of tweaks to the perfect original formula to make for an equally addictive & engaging alternative play) — from Russia with fun, indeed.
*****
#6 - JACKAL
On Jackal, you just drive around an army jeep shooting enemy army stuff (or just running enemy army guys over) at a fairly leisurely pace, while blowing up buildings to rescue POWs who you need to safely get to a helicopter pick-up point. So I guess it is a lot like that Choplifter franchise, except, you’re in a jeep instead of a helicopter and you’re moving around vertically instead of horizontally. Jackal is also a pretty good combination of not too hard but also not too easy gameplay — which is always nice a combo when it comes to these pre-internet video games.
*****
#7 -
DR. MARIO
The best puzzle games are the simplest puzzle games, and in Dr. Mario you just move/rotate pills around to match coloured viruses with the same coloured pills until you’ve removed all the little viruses from the screen. If only dealing with actual viruses was as simple and fun! Although, I have been playing this game a lot since the pandemic, just in case it will come in handy with dealing with viruses down the road (and I can vouch for it definitely coming in handy when you need to quarantine for awhile).
*****
#8 - KIRBY’S ADVENTURE
Kirby is definitely one of the best looking and smoothest handling platformer games on the NES (which makes sense given how late in the lifespan of the NES this game came out), my only qualm with Kirby is that it almost feels TOO easy at times. And I like ‘not hard’ games, especially at my age of not wanting to have to look up instructional manuals online, but sometimes it feels a little too simple to just be able to swallow up any bad guy I want from a safe distance or just fly/float through most of a level. I’m sure it gets more challenging as you go, but even if it doesn’t, I’ll still take a well-handling game like Kirby than one of the many NES platformers where the deaths come fast and cheap.
*****
#9 ADVENTURE’S OF LOLO + #10 ADVENTURE’S OF LOLO 2 + #11 ADVENTURE’S OF LOLO 3
The Adventures of Lolo series is a great collection of puzzle rooms where you sometimes have to do a bit of trial and error to figure out what all the baddies do (ie. “oh, I guess that statue can shoot arrows through the bushes” OR “oh, I guess the pink dragon shoots fire at you once you grab the last heart” etc) — BUT — eventually you’ll figure out the strategy on how you need to move things around in order to safely grab all the hearts and unlock the chest that’ll open the door to another level where you’ll need to do something similar but different again (which can be a quite satisfying feeling). It’s a fun & addicting series that’s so good they did it thrice.
*****
#12 - 3-D WORLDRUNNER
I went into 3-D WorldRunner with low ‘didn’t really care much for Space Harrier on the Sega Mini’ expectations, but, once I actually started playing the game, I was surprised to find this 8-bit version of running head first into a “3d world” actually held up quite decently. It doesn’t look amazing or handle perfectly, but overall it provides a pretty fun and challenging play. And, like most retro games you play for the first time in the present day, since your current option often doesn’t come with a physical instruction anymore, it’s sometimes worth watching some Youtube videos to see someone who knows what they’re doing play the game for a bit, otherwise you may never discover that if you run into the green tubes on 3-D WorldRunner you don’t die like when you run into the other things —instead — you can get power-ups and potions & stuff. And here I was trying to dodge everything in my path, including the green tubes, like a right noob 🤦
*****
#13 - KICKLE CUBICLE
Kickle Cubicle is a nice, mildly addicting little puzzle game. You basically turn baddies into ice blocks that you shoot to create bridges to grab red bags of loot to beat a level and move onto the next, apparently rescuing vegetable people along the way. But the plot doesn’t seem to be super important here, it’s just a fun little game where the levels get a little bit harder as you go, but it starts off easy enough to get you hooked on the concept & how it feels to play. And I guess I got a little bit hooked.
*****
#14 CHIP n’ DALE RESCUE RANGERS + #15 CHIP n’ DALE RESCUE RANGERS 2
I did not have an NES as a kid, so, besides some memories of playing Mario and Duck Hunt at someone else’s house, I don’t really have a lot of built-in nostalgia for the games (although we did rent a NES every now & again, so I guess I have some nostalgia for Double Dragon 2 and Bases Loaded, although that nostalgia didn’t necessarily translate to current day enjoyability of those games). I did, however, watch a lot of Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers as a kid, and the built-in nostalgia for that old tv show translates quite nicely to this solid platformer series (the Chip n’ Dale sequel is equally good). I’m not a huge fan of games that don’t let you backtrack in levels (ie. once you go to the right, you can’t turn around and go back to the left for things you missed) — BUT — overall this is a fun little game that holds up and handles nicely.
*****
#16 SOLOMON’S KEY + #17 FIRE N’ ICE
Understandably, a lot of 8-bit NES games don’t quite compete when compared to similar style 16-bit or higher games (ie. sports, racing, etc) — BUT — one area I’ve been finding the NES to provide pretty fun and addicting gameplay that ages well, and possibly (ninten)do things better than the more powerful consoles, is puzzle games. And Solomon’s Key provides a simple concept of being able to make blocks appear and disappear to avoid baddies while grabbing keys and saving fairies and getting out the door before the time runs out, and it does all that very nicely. And the sequel, known as FIRE ‘N ICE in North America, improves on the graphics and changes the gameplay slightly to focus on dropping ice on fire in an equally addictive collection of logic puzzles.
*****
#18 - TINY TOON ADVENTURES
This is another game where my nostalgia for the old carton series really adds an extra layer of enjoyment to playing the game—especially with the “we’re tiny, we’re toony, we’re all a little looney” theme song playing throughout in all it’s 8-bit sounding glory. As for the game itself, you get to play as multiple different Tiny Toon characters and the gameplay is your standard left-to-right platformer where you jump on baddies to make them go away. Everything looks and handles well, and it’s that good combo of not too hard that you just get annoyed and want to do something else, but also not too easy that you just get bored and also want to do something else.
*****
#19 - BOULDER DASH
Boulder Dash is one of those games where the cover art on the box gives off a way different vibe than what the actual game is. Based on the cover, you’d think you’re about to play some kind of Indiana Jones action-adventure knock-off, but what you’re really getting into is more of puzzler game that looks & feels a bit more like Adventures of Lolo crossed with Dig Dug crossed with Mr. Driller. Luckily, the game Boulder Dash is, for me, at least, a much better game than whatever the designer of the box art thought the game would be. Basically, you move around collecting diamonds while trying not to get squished by boulders that fall depending on where you dig (and by ‘dig’ I just mean walk). It’s simple fun and while we’re on the topic of ‘looks like something else’… boy does the level select screen look an awful lot like a Super Mario game (or maybe Super Mario looks a lot like Boulder Dash, I don’t know, I’m not a video game historian).
*****
#20 - LITTLE SAMSON
This is one of those games that you’ll hear mentioned often as a ‘hidden gem’ or as a ‘must play’ out on the Youtubes… and that’s probably because it’s a really good platformer where you get to play as different characters & it’s all just really well done for the 8-bit era (and supposedly REALLY expensive as a physical cartridge). I sometimes get this game mixed up with another ‘Little’ NES title that often gets recommended as highly (no relation to this game, but that other' ‘Little’ one is Little Nemo and it is pretty decent) — but I enjoy this ‘Little’ one quite a little bit more.
*****
#21 - YOSHI
I guess the Yoshi character was such a hit in Super Mario World on the SNES that Nintendo quickly turned around a Yoshi spinoff series on the NES a year later, as the 90s were wont to do. In Yoshi the puzzle game, you control Mario to move around columns of characters trying to either line up two of the same, or getting the top of a Yoshi egg to land on a column where you have the bottom of a Yoshi egg already in place (which will get rid of everything in between). In a way, just another typical puzzle game — but, personally, I find those typical puzzle games to be a nice relaxing time kill. I guess it’s kind of like when old people play Sudoku to relax.
*****
#22 - ADVENTURE ISLAND 2
Adventure Island 2 is similar to the first Adventure Island game (no duh) but there are some ‘HI54 specific’ improvements that make me like playing the sequel a lot more. Mainly, it’s the fact that you can go back to the left on the #2 whereas in number #1 you can only keep moving to the right and if you happened to miss a piece of fruit, too bad for you. Also, there’s a slightly more slowed down and less-forced pace to #2 that appeals to my gaming tastes more. And, I suppose, visually #2 is also a bit better. But, other than that, you basically just move left-to-right throwing hammers and grabbing fruit and finding eggs that have things you wouldn’t normally expect to find in an egg like skateboards and hammers (you can also find more egg-likely things like dinosaurs — which I think is also a new thing from #1, but maybe I didn’t play #1 long enough to get to ride a dinosaur).
*****
#23 - GUN NAC
I don’t usually like vertical space shooters (partly because I’m not good at them, which is partly because there is often way too much stuff on the screen for my brain to have a good time), but there’s something about GUN NAC that keeps me coming back. It’s probably because of it’s weirdness — one level will have carrots coming at you and the next level will have cigarettes shooting heat-seeking matchsticks at you — and I guess they also do a good job of giving weapon power-ups + the ability to take a few hits before exploding, which are things that help me get locked in long enough to want to try again once I finally do blow up (which I am wont to do).
*****
#24 - WRECKING CREW
Wrecking Crew is an old skool Atari-looking/feeling game from the early days of the NES that has you playing the kind of Mario that more resembles the guy that used to dodge barrels in the original Donkey Kong. As for gameplay, you just go around wrecking stuff like walls and ladders and locker-looking things, all the while trying to avoid bumping into some of the robot workers and random fire balls that move around the different floors. Like a lot of those early games, there’s a repeatable simplicity to it that can make it a fun & relaxing play to jump into when you’re feeling a bit bored and looking for something easy on the brain to visually pair with listening to a podcast or audiobook.
*****
#25 - Mario Bros.
Speaking of old skool Atari looking/feeling games from the early days of the NES that has you playing the kind of Mario that more resembles the guy that used to dodge barrels in the original Donkey Kong — it’s the original Mario Bros game, before they become Super-ized. This game doesn’t handle the smoothest when compared to the later iterations of Mario, but once you get adjusted to how things control, this is still a fun little game to jump into, especially if you’ve got another person to play with (and then you can do that a-hole move of waiting until the other person is about to kick an upside down turtle/crab and then hit the POW box to flip them over and kill them — definitely have some nostalgic memories of both doing that and having it done to me (so I guess this is another NES game that I have some built-in nostalgia for).
*****
#26 - GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH
Gremlins 2 is that rare batch of video game that actually does a decent job of making a pretty good game out of a movie license. I don’t really remember the plot of Gremlins 2, but in the video game you play as Gizmo who goes around throwing an infinite supply of what I assume is some kind of fruit against baddies such as rats and bats and giant tomatoes — is that like the movie? Either way, it’s a nice looking platformer that handles well and gives a different playing experience than your more typical left-to-right game from the 80s/90s.
*****
#27 - METAL STORM
When testing out Game Boy Color games for a different list, one of my favourite ones to play was Wendy Every-Witch-Way — which is relevant to mention now when talking about Metal Storm because the thing that I liked about the Wendy game was how you could switch the gravity between walking on the floor and walking on the roof… and that is exactly the same kind of thing that you can do here. Except now, instead of being a child witch, you’re a bad-ass transformer type robot with a big ass robot gun. This game looks and plays great and I guess you could say that Metal Storm walked so that Wendy Every Witch Way could run.
*****
#28 - GUERRILLA WAR
This game starts off with a picture of Fidel Castro hailing the heroes of the revolution… which is definitely a good way to appeal to the leftist/socialist in me — really added a nice touch to your typical ‘go shoot all the bad guys and try not to shoot the hostages’ video game. I mean, usually you’re always left to play the “good guy” Americans, but here you actually get to take part in a communist/socialist revolution, which, in video game perspective, associates the communists/socialists with being the ‘good guys’… and that’s a kind of representation you don’t often find in video games from 80s/90s. Viva le resistance, eh?!
*****
#29 - PUZZNIC
Surprise, it’s another puzzle game (as if the Puzznic name didn’t already give the puzzle-ness of this game away). This one sees you moving shapes around to try and line up with matching shapes (and there’s also a gravity-based version for extra puzzle variety). Which sounds and starts off easy enough, but the puzzles get harder as you go and require you to think before matching up an obvious pair and screwing up the correct order you need to do things in order to complete the whole puzzle. Good, addictive fun. Or ‘simple enough for complex minds’ as the tag line cleverly puts it.
*****
#30 - ALFRED CHICKEN
Alfred Chicken is a fairly unique looking / feeling platformer (with puzzle/maze elements to the layout/gameplay) where you go around collecting diamonds & stuff and try to not get hit by things that can hurt you because one hit and you’re done. It can take a little while to get used to your one method of attack being to dive bomb down onto your enemies, but once you figure that out without an instruction manual and get the timing down, it becomes a game with a good combo of not too easy and not too hard that’ll have you wanting to keep coming back to it. Which is all you can really ask from a game from the early 90s starring a chicken (and, if you’re like me, you might also like the SNES version).
*****
#31 - THE BUGS BUNNY CRAZY CASTLE
There’s not a lot to this one, you just walk around as Bugs collecting carrots, climbing up and down stairs and trying to avoid bumping into one of the other Looney Toon characters and/or finding items that you can use to get rid of the other characters (like dropping an anvil on their head or hitting them with a boxing glove). But it’s in its simplicity that this game becomes fun & addictive to keep trying to progress thru somewhat different level after the other.
*****
#32 DUCK TALES + #33 DUCK TALES 2
Much like with the Chip N’ Dale recommendation earlier, I have a bit of built-in nostalgia for the Duck Tales games not from playing them back in the day, but from watching the series as a kid. Also like Chip N’ Dale, Duck Tales is another NES series where the sequel is the same quality of good as the original. I personally like 2 a bit more, as I find the controls slightly better in the sequel, which helps me enjoy playing it slightly more (ie. you just have to push one button to do the ‘cane pogo stick’ move when jumping in Duck Tales 2) — BUT — other than that, they really are both great little platformers (with plenty of challenge to go along with all the Duck Tales characters making nostalgic cameos). Also, that theme song is an ear worm.
*****
#34 - DARKWING DUCK
It might be sacrilegious to make a NES list and not include any of the highly regarded Mega Man games in your top 54, BUT, the thing is, I don’t have any nostalgia for Mega Man and I find the games really hard to get into now — AND — Darkwing Duck takes gameplay the feels similar to the Mega Man-style and bumps up the personal appeal & charm by incorporating a beloved cartoon from my youth. So, apologies to Mega Man 1-6, but I am more of “I am the terror that flaps in the night!" guy who prefers to “Let’s get dangerous!” instead.
*****
#35 - KRUSTY’S FUN HOUSE
Unsurprisingly, there were quite a few Simpsons games that got made in the 90s — unfortunately — most of them aren’t very good (some are bad, but most are just disappointing to play). Krusty’s Fun House, however, is actually quite good and still holds up. It’s a bit of a platformer/puzzler, where you have to try and get all the mice on each level over towards Bart and the giant mouse killing machine that he operates (usually by putting blocks down to help the mice get to different sections, while also going around and collecting bonus items and etc). You can find this game on basically all the 90s consoles, and it’s more or less the same game on each console (at least in the early stages), but I tend to reach for the NES version the most.
*****
#36 - SNOW BROTHERS
Major Bubble Bobble vibes here, except instead of bubbles you are hitting baddies with snow until they turn into a giant snow ball that you can roll to try & take out a bunch of other baddies all at once. Good fun + it also is a nice two player game, if you happen to have at least one (1) friend / brother of snow.
*****
#37 - MITSUME GA TOORU
This is a really nice looking and handling platformer based on a manga series (the english translation = “The Three-Eyed One”) that has you shooting stuff out of your third eye and summoning a spear that you can use as a temporary platform. You also collect coins as you defeat enemies, which you can use at pop-up shops to upgrade your firepower. It has some Mega Man vibes in the way it plays, but, unlike Mega Man, I manage to be a bit better at this one and can progress through levels a lot more enjoyably (which is helped by unlimited continues… even if you lose your power-ups when you die).
*****
#38 - MR. GIMMICK
This is a nicely made game that will have you wanting to keep coming back to it again and again, as it looks & sounds & handles so nicely (especially once you get used to its physics). It can be quite challenging and easy to die in Mr Gimmick, but it often happens in a way that isn’t super frustrating & more in that way where you make a mental note of what you have to do or not do the next time around and then you keep getting a little bit better / further along.
*****
#39 - BURAI FIGHTER
Looks wise, Burai Fighter kinda reminds me of Insector X on the Genesis (which made my Top 36 list), although, gameplay wise, as you can shoot your weapon in all 360° directions, it is also a bit similar to Forgotten Worlds (which made my Top 25 Master System games). So, when you add up those factors, it makes sense that this NES shooter would tickle my gaming tendencies more than a lot of the other shooters available on the console. Because Burai Fighter still a shooter, I’m not “great” at the game, but when you factor in all the elements I like about the style & gameplay, it’s a shooter that I find myself returning to for more.
*****
#40 - BALLOON FIGHT
Take the classic game Joust, swap out the birds with some balloons and… you kinda got yourself the classic game Balloon Fight. This one is fun to play on your own, but it’s more fun to play if you can find yourself a second player to battle against (ain’t that usually the way). There’s also a one-player Ballon Trip game mode that plays a bit like Balloon Kid on the Game Boy (another game on another list) if you ever feel like mixing up your balloon-ing game play.
*****
#41 - ELEVATOR ACTION
Elevator Action is another one of those early-days NES titles that really shows it’s age in the graphics/sound — BUT — that doesn’t mean that the gameplay of riding elevators/escalators through a building while shooting Spy vs Spy looking guys & trying to avoid being shot while looking for red doors to grab your top secret files as you make your way to the bottom of the building doesn’t hold up as something that’s still enjoyable to play 40+ years later.
*****
#42 - VICE: PROJECT DOOM
What starts off as a racing/shooter game, quickly turns into an action platformer that, although looking quite similar to a lot of action platformers from the NES era (Ninja Gaiden & Batman & Shatter Hand come to mind), Vice: Project Doom plays and handles in a way that, for me, makes for a more enjoyable game to stick with than its similar looking (and often higher praised) peers. Not sure what it is, but this one just plays more to my liking (and speaking of ‘liking’, I like the 3 weapon types you’re able to easily switch between with the click of a select button). And while we’re on the topic of similar looking action platformers, let’s pop down to the next game on the list…
*****
#43 - POWER BLADE 2
Besides having a similar look and feel to the NES action platformers mentioned directly above, Power Blade 2 also plays a little more to my liking than it’s peers (including the first Power Blade, which has been improved upon in the sequel). Maybe it’s the range that you can throw your power blade, or maybe it’s the way you can do a power slide, or maybe it’s the music, or maybe it’s a combination of all those things — it’s probably all those things.
*****
#44 - GUN.SMOKE
Take your typical vertical shooter and replace the jets/spaceships/tanks/aliens with cowboys & cowboy related stuff… and then that’s kind of what you got here — a vertical old west shmup. Which is a really good idea for a genre that tends to re-use the same ideas, and once you get over the weird punctuation in the title (I mean, c’mon, why is there a period inbetween Gun and Smoke?), this old west shooter will have you coming back to blast away outlaws & hombres again and again (and makes for a good retro pairing with horizontal cowboy shooter Sunset Riders on the SNES).
*****
#45 CONTRA + #46 SUPER C
Speaking of running around shooting guns, it would be impossible to make a list of NES games that didn’t include Contra, the quintessential run-and-gun shooter, or it’s equally good and challenging sequel Super C. Even though they are much harder than my skills often can handle, there’s no denying the quality of intense action and cooperative gameplay on offer with these two. They say they’re games that reward skill and persistence, and, one day, I plan on showing enough persistence to increase my skills to make it a little bit further than the last time those one-hit kills sent me to the 'Game Over’ screen (which was not that far tbh).
*****
#47 - CASTLEVANIA III: DRACULA’S CURSE
Speaking of NES games that I can both recognize the quality of and also suck at because of the challenge on offer, there’s Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. But, much like with Contra/Super-C (or any ‘NES-hard’ game), if you stick with this one long enough you start to develop a feel for how to play it and start staying alive long enough to whip yourself up a good time (in spite of those frustrating knock-back deaths and respawning baddies).
*****
#48 - FELIX THE CAT
Felix the Cat was a cartoon that existed before my time. It was the kind of popular where I was completely aware of the character, without ever having really seen any of his work (except for maybe a few comic book panels). Either way, I am familiar enough with the character to say that this game is one of the nicest looking NES games out there & it really captures what Felix looks like (and comes with a lot of different costume changes with every power-up + the fun gimmick of ‘going into his bag’). I wish it handled a little less loose, but, overall, it’s a fun little platformer that’s a pleasure to look at & work your way thru.
*****
#49 - BUCKY O’HARE
Bucky O'Hare was a comic book / cartoon that existed during my time, however, I don’t remember being aware of any of it (we did live in rural Canada with no cable, so there’s a lot of stuff from the 90s that stayed off my radar). Luckily, my lack of nostalgia has no effect on my ability to enjoy this challenging platformer with vibrant graphics and tight controls.
*****
#50 - BIONIC COMMANDO
Bionic Commando takes a little bit to get used to, with its unique grappling hook mechanic replacing your ability to jump (ie. it’s an action platformer where your character cannot jump at all) — BUT — once you get the swing of things, you’ll be navigating through levels and blasting away the baddies in a very enjoyable fashion.
*****
#51 - CODE NAME VIPER
This game is for anyone who has ever wanted to play Rolling Thunder… except with a character who looks like they are not wearing any pants (seriously, why did they make his pants the same colour as his skin?). Unintentional bottom-half nudity aside, this a fun game that offers enjoyable gameplay with a good challenge.
*****
#52 - LODE RUNNER
I first got a taste for Lode Runner on the Turbo-Grafx (which I liked), and then I followed that up with a taste on the PS1 (which I liked), and now I am here to confirm that I also like the version that exists on the NES. I guess the combination of puzzle-solving with a bit of platforming chaos is a combo I enjoy. It starts off simple enough (collect gold while avoiding baddies / making baddies fall into holes you can dig), but the challenging gameplay makes it an addictive experience that is easy to pick up and hard to put down.
*****
#53 - STARTROPICS
The first Zelda game I ever played was Link To The Past on the SNES, which I enjoyed very much and which made me think that I would also dig going back to the Zelda games on the NES. However, it turned out that what I enjoyed most about the 16-bit Zelda was better found in the action-adventure game StarTropics, which has you battling enemies with a yo-yo and uncovering secrets in a unique story-driven quest that provides gameplay that I personally found much more enjoyable than what the 8-bit Zelda’s have on offer (as blasphemous as that may sound to some pointed ears).
*****
#54 - TOOBIN’
Sometimes you just want a simple game to jump into and distract the ol’ noggin’ and Toobin' — where you navigate a river in an inner tube, avoiding obstacles and enemies, picking up sixers and throwing cans — is just that kind of game. Perfect for a nice visual stimulant while you dive into a podcast or audiobook.
*****
Ok, that’s it for my personal “HIGH 54” Top Nintendo (NES) Games That Are Still Fun To Play Now list — I know that there may be some classic titles that seem crazy not to have included, BUT, again, this is not meant to be a ‘Top 54 All-Time Best Ever’ list and it’s also not meant to be your list. Besides, reading another list that just confirms what’s on every other ‘best of’ list is a bit boring and pointless, especially if you’re looking for games that might not be top of mind (and especially when you consider how all this stuff is individually subjective & doesn’t really matter beyond the enjoyment that comes from thinking/talking about your own experiences & finding temporary moments of connection/agreement/discovery with others).
So, on that note, here’s FORTY-ONE more NES games (the cover art is linked to Youtube gameplay) that are of the kind of quality that have them constantly circling just outside my personally subjective “HIGH 54” list looking for an opening (and for fans of math, yes, that does make this a list of 95 NES Games That Are Still Fun To Play Now):
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And while we’re listing things, here’s my other lists of retro video games that are still fun playing today… if you happen to be looking for more than just NES games to check out (and if you think you might have some crossover tastes in retro games with me):
Finally, please feel warmly encouraged to hit up the comments below if there’s any games that I left off that would definitely be on your ‘Fave NES Games’ list (whatever number you cap your list off at; whichever factors you consider more), as I’ve been known to make tweaks to my lists when a new ‘old game’ starts making a stronger case for more of my limited attention span.
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JEREMY / @HI54LOFI
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