Best NES games: the 20 greatest Nintendo classics (2024)

Yes, there are two Mario games in this list - and with good reason. While the original set the bar for what platform games should strive to be, Mario 3 raised the bar so high no other series outside of Mario has been able to reach it since.

Just when you thought you could only play about in side-scrolling platformers and their ilk, along came the very first Zelda game to show us that, actually, the NES was capable of taking us all on epic adventures. A legend in gaming.

Have you heard of this one? Apparently it's some kind of thing where a plumber eats mushrooms to get superpowers, before murdering turtles and invading the castle of a large dinosaur/turtle hybrid who doesn't even have any princesses there.

It's not too much of a push to say Contra was the Call of Duty of its day. Except side-scrolling, not in the slightest bit realistic and with no online multiplayer. So not really like CoD at all. It was great, though.

We've not seen a huge number of boxing games in recent years, so eyes are obviously drawn back through time to what came before. What luck, then, that the original Punch-Out on NES is fine fun, if not exactly what you'd call a simulation of the sport.

Who among us didn't get utterly drawn in by the atmosphere of Castlevania? Safe to say, some of us definitely wanted to be vampire hunters when we were kids...

This, along with Castlevania, was responsible for creating the hybrid genre known as 'MetroidVania', which was a sort of genre mash-up of the two. When a game is synonymous with an actual genre, you know it did something right.

One of the most difficult games ever made, Mega Man did still see people actually finish the thing. Keep an eye out for Mighty Number 9 on modern consoles - it's a Mega Man spiritual successor from the original creator. And yes, it's also difficult.

Did literally everyone have Duck Hunt (and the Zapper light gun)? It feels like everyone had it. And how many of you cheated by putting the gun right up to the screen? Shame on you. We did that too, but still.

Recently re-worked and re-released on modern consoles, DuckTales Remastered showed us two things: one, the theme tune is amazing, and two, the original NES release was... well, better.

Marking one of the earlier releases from Rare, studio behind other classics like Goldeneye on the N64. The NES wasn't known for its classic racing games, but the UK-made R.C. Pro-Am filled the gap incredibly well and doubtlessly went on to inspire legions of other racing games.

Arguably one of the hardest games ever, Ninja Gaiden managed to overcome pixel based frustrations by being a) brilliant and b) a that game lets you be a ninja and being a ninja trumps everything.

The precursor to Ghouls and Ghosts, Ghosts n Goblins is held up by some as the superior of the two. Regardless of your feelings, this spooky platformer still offers an engaging, fun challenge to this day.

One of the console's earlier titles, Kung Fu was simple and a lot of fun. These days, it still offers a surprisingly good time as you work your way through dozens of onrushing enemies, all ready to be kicked in the face.

An action-platformer game with some actual depth to it, Kid Icarus is one of those games you go back to play and realise 'hang on, games were actually really good back then'. Oh, and hard. Mustn't forget the hard bit.

Licensed tie-ins are usually awful, and the assumption is a game based on a movie will be nothing other than shoddy. Yet back in annals of history, Batman's film tie-in on the NES was - and still is - great fun. Weird.

By 1993 most people were done with the NES - but not Nintendo. The Japanese company still had time to give one of its now-classic characters a run out, this time with the excellent adventure of the greedy pink lump.

Try and play through a few levels of Bubble Bobble without getting the theme music hopelessly stuck in your head. It's impossible. And you'll inevitably end up playing more than a few levels, because it's a brilliant game.

An early point-and-click adventure game, Maniac Mansion was the precursor to the likes of the Secret of Monkey Island. Oddly, it actually worked really well on the NES pad. Oh, and you could microwave a hamster in it. Obviously.

There are plenty of interesting facts and memories around why River City Ransom was awesome but the best one is clearly the English translation of the Japanese title for the game, roughly: Downtown Hot-Blooded Story. And that pretty much sums up everything you need to know.