Top 10 NES games (Not Super Mario Bros.)

When looking back on the beautiful gray box that is the Nintendo Entertainment System, it would be easy to put together a top 10 list of games, especially since 3 of the games would involve Mario and Luigi. Never being one to take the easy way out, I’ve decided to leave those games out just so it gives a better view of games that might not be as well known. So without further explanation here are the top 10 NES games that are not Super Mario Bros.

10. Duck Hunt

            It helps when you’re packaged with one of the top selling games of all time, but Duck Hunt can stand on its own merits. The highs of shooting two ducks in three shots could only be matched by the anger of the snickering dog when your prey got away. The beauty of the game was that it could be exactly as challenging as you needed it to be. If you were just getting started with the game, you stood close to the TV where you were basically guaranteed a kill every shot. Once you got more practice you could step back and test your skills with the zapper and take down the ducks from long range. The ability to challenge the player along with addictive game play leads this game to be one of the highlights of the NES era.

9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

            I get it; I’ve seen the angry video game nerd video where he basically thrashes everything about this game. I also happen to agree with most of his gripes. None of the original baddies are in the game. The plot makes little to no sense. On top of all that the music isn’t even familiar. What I don’t agree with is that the game was way too hard. No doubt it was a difficult game but so were all the games of the day. Most of the games on this list will make you pull your hair out in frustration, doesn’t make them bad games. Plus it was the first video game to feature the turtles and so deserves a mention. It also helped to polish the idea of the side scrolling slasher game.

8. Track Meet

            Most people had Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt packaged together on one cartridge. I, however, had an even more deadly combination of games on a single NES cartridge, Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt AND Track Meet. If you’ve never played this game there is no way to describe it except it was DDR for a more athletic gamer. Where DDR relies on rhythm and timing, Track Meet is pure speed. You pound your feet as fast as you can on the track pad and you don’t let up until you’ve won the race. If this concept sounds too simplistic for you, how about hurdles where you actually have to jump off the pad for your character to jump or how about triple jump where you would run up until a line then jump three times. This game led me to believe we were just a few short steps from a completely interactive game system that could transfer all of your movements to the video game. I guess 20 years later I’m not quite a prophet but still, it was an amazing game and deserves love.

7. Mega Man

            This is the game that started it all for Capcom’s flagship character. We’ll leave out all of the discussion about the botched US cover art and go straight to the fantastic gameplay. Mega Man was innovative in the sense that never before could you choose the path of stages that you would go through. Add this to the fact that once you defeated a boss you took his weapon and could use it against the next boss, and you have a complex game of strategy as well as quick fingers.

6. Battle Toads/Double Dragon

            Battle Toads are what would have happened if the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle games had not gone arcade and kept to the insane difficulty route. Just to give you an idea of how difficult this team up game was, on the first level there are 2 extra lives just sitting waiting to be picked up, I still can’t get through the first stage without being down to my last life. As hard as the game is, it was also ahead of its time, included were the ability to pick up new weapons and beat up enemies with it, vehicles, climbing ladders… this game was really an all around masterpiece. If only the baddies weren’t so ludicrously difficult.

5. Contra

            Sad that no Contra game in the future would ever capture the beauty that was the original (especially not the ill-fated Contra: Shattered Soldier that crapped all over the PS2 after getting my hopes up for a successful sequel.) This game had no need for you to have to shoot an enemy more than once, it was like real life, one shot kill. The downside of course was that it worked the same both ways. If you got hit once, you were done. That means the first trip you take on this game and you’re likely not getting out of the first level. You have to learn when and where to jump and when an enemy is popping up. It’s well worth it when you master the stage and move on to the next level.

4. Metroid

            Metroid was one of the top games of the NES for reasons beyond its superb story and game play. It was groundbreaking in that its main character was a woman. Now this isn’t some sappy woman main character like in Barbie Island Princess or even Super Princess Peach. Samus is a bad ass, fighting space pirates and saving the universe, not solving puzzles or collecting flowers. Metroid breaks ground on what a female character can do.

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2

            This is the only sequel on my list. There was, however, no way to leave it off. If I put a game in the top 10 and its sequel is superior in every way and more beloved by fans, I am required to include it. I include it for more reason than I must; this game is the top of my list of side scrolling hack-n-slash games. It

2. Paper Boy

            Never has such a simple job had so many on the job hazards. As the paperboy, you’re fighting teenagers on skateboards, motorcycles, tornadoes, and even death himself. This game shows how NES games used to challenge players. Instead of adding puzzles to make the player think, the game just throws an inordinate amount of moving obstacles on the screen. This game is one of the best to come out of my childhood and still makes me want to pull the NES out and take a paper route again.

1. Legend of Zelda

            No NES game list would be complete without The Legend of Zelda. This game started the franchise that is only possibly second to the franchise I left out of this article. Game save positions, sprawling dungeons and impressive boss fights, there is nothing not to like about this game. Recently at a flea market a guy had a gold cartridge version for 5 bucks, better believe I bought it up quick. The very cover makes you feel like you are about to embark on something epic. It’s no wonder that this game is available in so many forms: GBA, Wii virtual console, and a Gamecube collector’s disc. This is the game that started it all and is deserving of the top spot on this list.