What would be your top 20 NES games, in order?

[retrorussell]

Hey all,

I'm going to be doing a series of YouTube videos on what I feel are the top 20 games for the NES.  Since there are SO damn many great games for the system it is brutally hard to narrow it down to a top 20.  I just kind of wanted to get a feel for what you fine people thought.  I will have a nice long extra video before I get to #1 about some great honorable mentions.

 

The ones I currently feel will definitely be on my top 20 list:

 

LEGEND OF ZELDA

ZELDA II- ADVENTURE OF LINK

KID ICARUS

MEGA MAN 2

MEGA MAN 3

SUPER MARIO BROS.

SUPER MARIO BROS. 2

SUPER MARIO BROS. 3

CASTLEVANIA

CASTLEVANIA 3- DRACULA'S CURSE

MIKE TYSON'S PUNCH-OUT!!

METROID

THE GUARDIAN LEGEND

TECMO SUPER BOWL

KIRBY'S ADVENTURE

BLASTER MASTER

WIZARDS & WARRIORS

RIVER CITY RANSOM

 

That's my 20, but I haven't established a specific order yet.

Any you think really should have been on the top 20?  Ones that don't belong?  There were several games that I feel are so close to being in the top 20 that just barely missed the cut..

What would be YOUR top 20?

Thanks for the feedback in advance! 

[+Razzie.P]

4 hours ago, retrorussell said:

Any you think really should have been on the top 20?  Ones that don't belong?  There were several games that I feel are so close to being in the top 20 that just barely missed the cut..

What would be YOUR top 20?

Thanks for the feedback in advance! 

 

Since it's a list of games that "you feel are top 20," there are no wrong answers there.  ?

 

For feedback, though -- Wizards and Warriors and Zelda 2 seems to be lukewarm to most people.  I love them (Especially Zelda 2), but they're not usually considered great.

 

Getting a list down to 20 is brutally hard, as you mentioned.  But seems like Contra and Ninja Gaiden should always be in a list like that.   Maybe a bit of Dragon Warrior (3?) and/or Final Fantasy.

 

I'll see if I can put one together later for kicks, if time permits.

 

 

[bubufubu]

I'll list you 20 of my favorite NES games but I refuse to rank them.  Too difficult and, ultimately, I find it to be pointless.

 

Bad Dudes

Castlevania

Commando

Dragon Spirit: The New Legend

Ghosts 'n Goblins

Gradius

Kid Niki: Radical Ninja

Legendary Wings

Mega Man

Mega Man II

Metroid

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

Ninja Gaiden

Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros. 3

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Goonies II

The Legend of Zelda

Zanac

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Edited May 19, 2021 by bubufubu

[retrorussell]

3 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

 

Since it's a list of games that "you feel are top 20," there are no wrong answers there.  ?

 

For feedback, though -- Wizards and Warriors and Zelda 2 seems to be lukewarm to most people.  I love them (Especially Zelda 2), but they're not usually considered great.

 

Getting a list down to 20 is brutally hard, as you mentioned.  But seems like Contra and Ninja Gaiden should always be in a list like that.   Maybe a bit of Dragon Warrior (3?) and/or Final Fantasy.

 

I'll see if I can put one together later for kicks, if time permits.

 

 

The list of alternates for Wizards & Warriors and Zelda 2 (if I knocked them off the list) would be:

DRAGON WARRIOR (haven't played any of the sequels)

DUCK TALES

BIONIC COMMANDO

LIFE FORCE

STAR TROPICS

BUBBLE BOBBLE

TETRIS

GYRUSS

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II- THE ARCADE GAME

BATTLETOADS

DOUBLE DRAGON II

GOONIES II

MENDEL PALACE

Oh man.. that last one was definitely a blast.  Weird game but oh, so much fun!

[retrorussell]

56 minutes ago, bubufubu said:

I'll list you 20 of my favorite NES games but I refuse to rank them.  Too difficult and, ultimately, I find it to be pointless.

 

Bad Dudes

Castlevania

Commando

Dragon Spirit: The New Legend

Ghosts 'n Goblins

Gradius

Kid Niki: Radical Ninja

Legendary Wings

Mega Man

Mega Man II

Metroid

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

Ninja Gaiden

Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros. 3

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Goonies II

The Legend of Zelda

Zanac

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

I like that you listed Kid Niki.. I felt it was a good port, and it removed the annoying scream from the arcade bosses when you killed them.  Plus, trying to find all the hidden bonus rooms was kind of fun (and if you found the floating ghost-thing it would let you take one hit without dying).  

[mbd39]

I have a definitive top 5 but after that I'm not so sure.

 

Tetris

Marble Madness

Ninja Gaiden (you can include the other two as well)

Batman

Contra

 

Other games that I really like:

 

SMB

Jackal

Double Dragon

Double Dragon 2

Castlevania

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out

Kabuki Quantum Fighter

Battletoads

Adventure Island

Palamedes

Trojan

POW: Prisoners of War

Bayou Billy

Kung Fu

RollerGames

 

 

 

 

 

[+jeremiahjt]

The last time I did this in 2015, my list looked like this:

1. Dragon Warrior

2. Super Mario Bros.

3. Dragon Warrior II

4. Super Mario Bros. 3

5. Dragon Warrior III

6. Mega Man

7. Dragon Warrior IV

8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

9. Super Mario Bros. 2

10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game

I made sure that no games from the same series were next to each other.

 

Now I think my list would look like this:

1. Dragon Warrior (this will always be my favorite NES game)

2. Super Mario Bros.

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (just beat this game today for the first time in over 25 years so it is making a huge (and probably short-lived) jump)

4. Dragon Warrior II

5. Super Mario Bros. 3

6. Mega Man

7. Dragon Warrior III

8. Ninja Gaiden

9. Castlevania

10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

11. Dragon Warrior IV

12. Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom

13. Mega Man 2

14. Super Mario Bros. 2

15. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

16. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

17. Mega Man 3

18. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

19. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

20. Astyanax

 

Wizards & Warriors, Metroid, RoboCop, The Legend of Zelda, Tiger-Heli, Arkanoid, Cabal, Contra, Super C, Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Final Fantasy, Mega Man 4-6, Duck Hunt, and Tecmo Super Bowl all could have snuck into the bottom spots.

Edited May 23, 2021 by jeremiahjt
changed order

[Tanooki]

Wow a top 20, very tricky.  Even at my worst point when I had to lose most of my collection over 15 years ago I had this bottom shelf of what I utterly refused to part with, top lists.  I could never get that NES I think under 30 or 40 so this should be fun.

 

Currently and for an extended time I've topped out at 58 games.   I have a HTML list I keep, but pasted it to notepad to try and shuffle it, and this is what I've come up with and even now I'm not like solid on it.  I quickly knocked it down to 34 but then had to make cuts.  I used to have Dragon Warrior 1 and 4, 4 was sacrificed for the NeoGeo in a cash+trade deal and oddly never replaced it and probably would just get it on DS anyway, DW1 I have on the GBC so I don't need it anymore. 

 

**Also, this is not in order of top #1 game either**

- Balloon Fight
- Blaster Master
- Bomberman II
- Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
- Contra
- Duck Tales
- Final Fantasy
- Gargoyle's Quest II
- Gradius
- Kirby's Adventure
- (The) Legend of Zelda
- Mega Man II
- Mighty Final Fight
- Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
- River City Ransom
- Super Dodgeball
- Super Mario Bros.
- Super Mario Bros. 2
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game

[retrorussell]

Those who liked River City Ransom (and everybody really should) should check out some related NES/FC games with Alex/Kunio; Crash 'N The Boys, Technos Samurai (I LOVE this one!), a hockey game, a soccer game, a baseball game, and others; I believe all involve physically beating the crap out of your opponents (yay!).

[AtariBrian]

I just seen this thread so it will take me a couple days to think of my top 20. Will be tough to try to list them in order... 

[Tanooki]

Yes the other Kunio games did have a mix of sports and beat downs.  We didn't get most of them back then though.

- River City Ransom was the only non sports, at least then, it's almost like some mixed mma street ass kicking game now.

 

Super Dodgeball

NES World Cup (soccer)

Crash and the Boys

 

That was it.  We almost got the ice hockey one though.  The package just did come out though on Switch as a digital grab if anyone is interested, not sure if they translated the JP only Famicom games but hopefully so as the RCR spinoffs like that Samurai one would be a bit tricky in town.

[retrorussell]

Well, I have a list started, with the first video coming out soon.

 

#20: LIFE FORCE

#19: BLASTER MASTER

#18: KID ICARUS

#17: RIVER CITY RANSOM

#16: THE GOONIES II

#15: THE GUARDIAN LEGEND

#14: SUPER MARIO BROS.

#13: TECMO SUPER BOWL

#12: CASTLEVANIA III: DRACULA'S CURSE

#11: ZELDA II: THE ADVENTURE OF LINK

#10: CASTLEVANIA

#9: MEGA MAN 3

#8: CONTRA

After that-- boy, the remaining games I plan to put on my list are all stellar!  It's gonna take me a while to figure out an order.  I'm thinking Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, Metroid, Zelda, Mega Man 2, Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Ninja Gaiden somewhere among the rest.

[+Sargon]

This is incredibly difficult, and I will almost certainly leave games off that should be on the list, but here's my initial attempt:

 

1. Tecmo Super Bowl

2. Dragon Warrior IV

3. Punch-Out

4. RBI Baseball

5. Super Mario Bros

6. Legend of Zelda

7. Bubble Bobble

8. Super Mario Bros 3

9. Mega Man 2

10. Baseball Simulator 1.000

11. Zelda II

12. Final Fantasy

13. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II - The Arcade Game

14. Metal Gear

15. Castlevania II - Simon's Quest

16. Willow

17. Base Wars

18. Star Tropics

19. Dragon Warrior II

20. RC Pro-Am

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[toiletunes]

I keep 20 games:

 

Metal Gear is not pictured because I'm playing it. The unlabeled cart is a 'super joy 76 in 1' with a famicon converter.

[+jeremiahjt]

On 6/1/2021 at 10:02 PM, toiletunes said:

I keep 20 games:

 

Metal Gear is not pictured because I'm playing it. The unlabeled cart is a 'super joy 76 in 1' with a famicon converter.

What is underneath Win, Lose, or Draw? By the way, Win, Lose, or Draw?

[toiletunes]

7 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

What is underneath Win, Lose, or Draw? By the way, Win, Lose, or Draw?

Videomation, I have a thing for drawing games.

[+jeremiahjt]

7 hours ago, toiletunes said:

Videomation, I have a thing for drawing games.

And my second question. Win, Lose, or Draw? I had that one as a kid and I played it plenty, but it is not one I have played as an adult.

[toiletunes]

50 minutes ago, jeremiahjt said:

And my second question. Win, Lose, or Draw? I had that one as a kid and I played it plenty, but it is not one I have played as an adult.

Same answer, it has a free form practice mode, and I doodle with that. I  picked up Pictionary last weekend on the off chance it might have a drawing function, but I haven't tested it yet.

[+atari2600land]

I am not ranking them. This is from my (almost) lifetime of the NES, so games I played as a kid and not an adult are also listed. And there are only 10 because I can't think of 20.

 

SMB

SMB2

SMB3

Tetris (Nintendo)

Jeopardy Jr.

Pipe Dream

Pin-Bot

Yoshi

Tetris 2

TMNT 2

[retrorussell]

5 hours ago, atari2600land said:

I am not ranking them. This is from my (almost) lifetime of the NES, so games I played as a kid and not an adult are also listed. And there are only 10 because I can't think of 20.

 

SMB

SMB2

SMB3

Tetris (Nintendo)

Jeopardy Jr.

Pipe Dream

Pin-Bot

Yoshi

Tetris 2

TMNT 2

The Jeopardy games are really well done on the NES!  Although, even with the thousands of questions, they would eventually repeat and if you played enough you could memorize many of them.  And if the computer screwed up (on the easier settings) you could see some letters of the correct answer, along with characters like *+=*&%, etc., to help you out.  I would piss off other players because I would ring in IMMEDIATELY and I was quite likely to remember the answer (you had tons of time to put in your response).

[+thegoldenband]

Not a ranked list, just an alphabetical one:

 

Air Fortress
Blaster Master
Bubble Bobble
Contra
Destiny of an Emperor
Double Dragon
Dr. Mario
Final Fantasy
Jackal
Legend of Zelda
Marble Madness
Mega Man
Metroid
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out
Monster Party
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Tetris
Xexyz
 

[Cobra Kai]

1. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

2. Castlevania

3. R.C. Pro-Am

4. Journey To Silius

5. Micro Machines

6. Marble Madness

7. Ikari Warriors

8. Heavy Barrel

9. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

10. Pro Wrestling

11. Super Mario 3

12. Ring King

13. Tecmo Super Bowl

14. G.I. Joe

15. Vindicators

16. Super Dodge Ball

17. Donkey Kong Classics

18. Rad Racer II

19. Silk Worm

20. Tetris

 

[profholt82]

Contra
Tecmo Superbowl
Ninja Gaiden
River City Ransom
Power Blade
Maniac Mansion
Mighty Final Fight
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Shatterhand
RC Pro-Am
Nightmare on Elm Street
Karate Kid
Little League Baseball
North and South
Battletoads
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out
Castlevania
Double Dragon II
Guerrilla War
Captain Skyhawk

[James Vontor]

• Startropics 2
• Mega Man V
• Clash at Demonhead
• Trojan
• Burai Fighter
• Twin Eagle Revenge Joe brothers
• Shadow of the ninja
• Vice Project Doom
• Shatterhand
• Dynatron city defenders
• Rush n attack
• Heavy Barrel
• Narc
• Rygar
• Castlevania
• xexyz
• Astyanax
• Castlevania 3
• Dracula
• Isolated Warrior

 

Many hidden gems.

Edited September 13, 2021 by James Vontor

[Pink]

On 5/19/2021 at 10:20 AM, Razzie.P said:

For feedback, though -- Wizards and Warriors and Zelda 2 seems to be lukewarm to most people.  I love them (Especially Zelda 2), but they're not usually considered great.

Wizards & Warriors is one of my mom's favorite NES games of all time and I remember watching my mom & dad play it together a lot growing up back in the day!

 

I haven't even played my NES games in forever and don't even know how i'd ever narrow it down to just 20 games... I'd have to go through and replay them all to see if my opinion has changed on any of them  before even attempting to ever rank them.

Edited April 2, 2022 by Pink