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):

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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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