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[Morfeo]

1. Zelda 2: Adventures of Link ; The perfect marriage of plattformer, action, adventure and rpg. This game had a sense of scale like no other at the time, it had deep combat-mechanics, interesting exploring, spell, towns and awesome bosses. Oh, and the reputation it has as too hard it bullshit. This game is balanced perfectly.

2. Super Mario Bros 3 ; What more is there to say about this game. Level design perfection, with so much creativity from the angry sun to the Karibu Shoe. Still might be the best plattformer out there.

3. Mega Man 2 ; That moment when you ascend the stair of Dr. Wilys Castle, start jumping on some blocks that then starts fall and a feaking mecha-dragon appears while what might be the best video game theme of all time plays. Perfection.

4. Dragon Warrior 4 ; By far the best 8-bit rpg imo, with an innovative and really enjoyable chapter-system that gives it a very unique narrative.

5. Castlevania 3 ; The western version was a bit too hard for its own good, but the Famicom-version is perfect, letting you explore different routes, use different characters, all while that insanely moody graphics and music helps you into the right atmosphere.

6. Ducktales ; Another awesome plattformer similar to Mega Man, but with a very fun and useful down-thrust move, made this game unique in its own right. The adventure-elements, like having to find a key to enter the mines was also, and Im glad it was expanded in the sequel. And the music is just in another league on this one.

7. Ninja Gaiden ; Fast and precise action with great level design, perfect challenge (except that final boss, fuck him and the throwing you back three stages thing), and a really coo, cinematic style.

8. Contra ; Run & Gun-perfection

9. Wonderboy 3: The Dragons Trap ; Best game on the Master System, awesome metroidvania.

10. Super Mario Bros ; How could the game that revolutionized the industry not be on the list?

 

[gelf]

Most of my list is arcade games. I wasn't sure on dates but according to my searches all of them came from 87 or earlier.

1. Outrun ; No arcade was complete without Outrun, it was the driving game of the age.
2. Afterburner
3. Space Harrier
4. Rainbow Islands ; The rainbow mechanic is a joy. Power up to 3 fast rainbows and you feel so powerful.
5. Super Hang On
6. R-Type ; Probably still my favourite Shmup.
7. Ninja Gaiden 2
8. Sonic Chaos

 

[Sinople]

A quick (and probably boring) top 10 to give this thread a little more activity.

(One entry per series)
1. Final Fantasy 3 ; There's a lot to say about this game and why it's without a doubt in my mind the best RPG released at the time but I don't have much time, unfortunately, so I'll just mention its ambitious class system, the memorable world-is-far-bigger-than-you-thought twist, the vastly improved UI, the great pacing and diversity, and the many secrets that rewards exploration. A true classic, far better than its remake.
2. Dragon Quest 4 ; Pretty close but its cumbersome UI and overall sluggishness make it lose a couple of points.
3. Super Mario Bros. 3
4. The Legend of Zelda
5. Wonder Boy 3 The Dragon's Trap
6. Castlevania 3
7. Mega Man 2
8. Gradius (Arcade)
9. Ghosts 'n Goblins (Arcade)
10. Metal Gear (MSX)

Honorable mentions:
Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Ancient Ys Vanished Omen (PC88)
Castlevania
Darius (Arcade)
Dragon Quest 1~3
Duck Tales
Fantasy Zone (Arcade)
Final Fantasy 1 & 2
Fire Emblem
Mega Man 1 & 3
Megami Tensei 2
Minelvaton Saga
Ninja Gaiden
Phantasy Star
Psycho Fox
R-TYPE (Arcade)
Saṃsāra Nāga
Sonic the Hedgehog (Master System)
Super Mario Bros.

 

[Eolz]

1. Super Mario Bros ; It changed the whole industry and became a standard in game design, even decades later. Hard to not put it at the top.
2. The Legend of Zelda
3. Tetris
4. Pac-Man
5. Out Run
6. Super Mario Bros 3
7. Nethack
8. Mega Man 2
9. Dragon Quest IV
10. After Burner

x. Mega Man 3
x. Punch Out
x. Ninja Gaiden 2

Late vote, but vote nonetheless. Hard gen.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

1. Zelda 2 : The Adventures of Link ; One of the best games ever made - fantastic metroidesque gameplay with massive dungeons and tough but fair enemies.
2. Maniac Mansion ; The Nes has the best version of the most influential game in the genre - great puzzles, many of which will be different depending on which kids you choose. Incredible music which I still listen to today. Would have been number one in the gen if not for the deadends.
3. Super Mario Bros 3 ; Incredible refinement and extension of super mario bros. Massive, imaginative levels with great presentation.
4. Super Turrican ; Fantasic Turri 1+2 mash up, great graphics, no time limit, made by ONE GUY
5. Ducktales 2 ; Superb platformer with very interesting pogo controls - made more interersting then the original with the addition of well hidden bonus treasures/map pieces and ability upgrades.
6. Wizards & Warriors 2 ; Great mazey platformer with unforgiving jumps and bags of atmosphere thanks to the brilliant music.
7. Castlevania 3 ; The best game in the series - multiple paths, tough as nails, alternate characters and the usual great vania gameplay.
8. Megaman 4 ; My first Megaman game - probably the reason I chose this instead of an earlier one, most of the innovations were "already here" in my first megaman game. Being able to charge Pharohman's energy orb was very cool though.
9. Gargoyles Quest 2 ; One of the most visually appealing nes games, this action RPG had a super-fun flying mechanic which defined a lot of the platforming, as you had to time your very limited (at first) flying time above instant death pits and spikes.
10. Bionic Commando ; Platformer without jumping! The very concept of grapplejumping using momentum is absolute genius, and implemented with panache.

x. Super Mario Bros 2 ; The western one. Great graphics, music and controls, fun enemy fighting system (grabbing and chucking), nightmare fuel masks (phanto).
x. Kabuki Quantum Fighter ; cool platformer where you fight with your hair against some super funkily designed enemies and stages.
x. Parodius ; Took me a long time to realise the giant woman was invincible and I just had to wait her out. Hilarious and well designed shmup.
x. Shadowgate ; A first person point & click that will let you do anything, no matter how stupid, but will make you pay the price if it is.
x. Swords and Serpents ; Great western style first person RPG. Only downside was the incredibly long passwords you needed to enter as it had no battery backup.

 

[Nocturnowl]

Well, I may as well throw something in here, it's pretty much top 10 NES though.

1. Super Mario Bros 3
The fact it's still considered by some to be the pinnacle of 2D platforming says it all. When you consider it's a sequel to the Lost Levels/SMB2 JPN it makes an absolutely mammoth jump up in content. Cool powerups out the wazzoo, crazy inventive level design, so many series tropes that endure to this day. This game is an all time great.

2. Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse
I still have nightmares about stage 9-3 (aka the one with the dope "riddle" theme music), a gauntlet that makes the original CV axeman and medusa head corridor seem small time. But I'm getting ahead of myself. While there's something to be said for the clear cut straightforward design of the original CV I still gotta go with the ambition of Dracula's Curse. Multiple gimmicked characters, alternative routes, soul crushing challenge and really pushing forward the blend of strategically fixed platforming and enemy whipping.

3. Mega Man 3
Real ass Owl is gonna shoot, this tops fan favourite MM2 on the whole, while not without its own rough spots (hello Doc Robot stages) the general level design and obstacles feel a lot more refined and less occasionally bullshitty. Mega Man can now slide on his backside and its awesome.
The series best character is introduced in protoman and all those item concepts from MM2 become a robot dog, it's everything you want from a sequel.


4. Kirby's Adventure
Effectively the Kirby game that would truly define the franchise, copy abilities make their debut here and the series would live by that mechanic. One of the later NES titles that sports some of the best visuals, music and level design on the console. Great hidden secrets, a surprisingly crazy endgame sequence and the needle power, what more could you want?

5. Gargoyle's Quest 2
Firebrand's...brand of action platformer has some interesting ideas mixing RPG style overworld progression with action stages where your characters sticky feet and wings offer a more varied take on 2D platforming level design.
A step up in pretty much every area from the already solid GB original, heck I even prefer this one to the SNES follow up.
Classic Capcom goodness, don't overlook this one.

6. Sonic the Hedgehog
I make no secret of my belief that the master system spin on Sonic 1 is actually much more enjoyable to me than the Mega Drive original. With less to work with the game focuses more on tight platforming which actually works a treat, where the original tries this and feels sluggish once you get beyond green hill zone (fuuuuck marble zone) the master system zones like bridge and jungle just flow that much better and that even includes an autoscroller, in sonic no less!
Labyrinth zone kinda sucks but otherwise it's a rather underrated outing for the hedgehog.

7. Ninja Gaiden
Bloody nails, I still never beat this one, 6-3 is just a colossal dick move.
Up until that point NG offers a failry ridiculous yet compelling action platformer where birds are public menace number 1 and as the angry video game nerd rightfully pointed out "when you're hit you gravitate towards the nearest hole!" thus making your health bar often redundant.
Ninja Gaiden 2 is probably the better game on the whole but I ended up still remembering this one more fondly.

8. Super Mario Bros 2
Why aren't then enemies dying when I jump on them? what madness is this?!
Surely the general reaction of every kid playing SMB2 after the original.
Fortunately the reskinned Doki Doki Panic is a great little platformer in its own right whose influence still holds some sway in Nintendo titles today, after all Tanabe revealed that it was the motivation behind Tropical Freeze's own pulling from the ground mechanic
and Mario series mainstays like bob-ombs and Shyguys (best grunt enemies) spawned here.
Also it was all a dream, fuck you!

9. Punch-Out
Simple to play, tricky to master, essentially a puzzle game in a twitch reaction boxing dressing where you try to figure out the various tells and quirks of international stereotypes and win one for all the little guys (like me) out there.

10. Contra/Probotector
A co-op clusterfuck of scattershots, the reason everyone remembers the Konami code.

 

[Sinople]

(...)

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[AlteredBeast]

Doing my list now, so don't lock this shit up yet!

 

[Yoshi]

Doing my list now, so don't lock this shit up yet!

Don't worry, it's AoE, so as long as it's Saturday, wherever you are, you can vote .

 

[Suzzopher]

1. Super Mario Bros 3 - Simply incredible game. The game feels like it's a generation ahead of the competition. The fact I can still play it today and enjoy as much as I did in 1990 means it's timeless.

2. Castlevania III - Great soundtrack and gameplay elevate this above the rest in the action genre.

3. OutRun - This game changed everything for me when I was a kid, games had a new benchmark for just how good they should be, nothing came close to this until the 90's.

4. Super Mario Bros - The game that made actually fall in love with video gaming. I'd played a lot of arcade, Atari and Speccy but Mario showed me what games could be in the home.

5. Batman Return of the Joker - Okay so Batman has a gun but look beyond this and you'll find the most gorgeous 8bit game and one of the best Batman games to date.

6. Punch-Out!! - Nothing comes close to gaming achievements than being able to beat Mike Tyson/Mr Dream. I think it took me about four years to finally to do it but when I did I felt like a king.

7. Duck Tales - Brilliant adaptation of a brilliant cartoon. Looked gorgeous, played great and that soundtrack is still incredible.

8. Mega Man 2 - The game that nearly broke spirit. But once I learnt you could switch weapons I never looked back. Possibly still the pinnacle of the series.

9. Ninja Gaiden 2 - The first game was great but this was a perfect refinement. Still play it today and enjoy just as much.

10. Gradius - Still my favourite shooter series and this is what started it all for me.

 

[Firemind]

Sure why not I'll post my top ten NES games

1. Super Mario Bros. 3 ; The game that got me into gaming. Without it I probably wouldn't be here posting opinions on a gaming forum. I would play this every day, often discovering new secrets, and since there's no save files, every playthrough felt fresh. (I always took the whistle in 1-3 and the fortress to go to a different world each time.) Kuribo's shoe was brilliant, the frog suit made water levels a breeze and I felt like Superman every time I use the Tanooki suit. Fuck you, falling spikes!

2. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest ; The game that birthed Metroidvania and I'll forever be greatful to it. No longer were you forced to go from left to right (or bottom to top in Castlevania I), you were free to go wherever you wanted. (Try going left in the first town for a rude awakening.) Talking to locals, traversing to dungeons, upgrading your whip as you go and throwing holy water everywhere, it felt like a proper adventure. It even has a day/night system! The password system meant you could actually save your progress which was necessary since you often had no fucking clue where to go next. Fantastic soundtrack as you might know.

3. Super C ; Probably the game where I had the most fun playing coop. It's just fun blasting aliens (and it really does steal a lot from Aliens, it could almost be a tie-in game lol.) Also that boss music is metal as fuck.

4. Life Force ; Second favourite coop game. Unlike Gradius, it had coop which is such an important feature. The worlds were inventive. Every stage had different hazards. Fuck those volcanoes in stage 2. Thank god for the Konami code.

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 ; Third favourite coop game. Not sure if I liked the second or third one better. I just remember 2 had en epic final showdown where you had to take down Kragg and two Shredders! He also has a laser attack that turns you into a baby turtle!

6. Batman ; This fucking game. Even though it had little to do with the film except the short cutscenes and the final battle with the Joker, you felt like fucking Batman fucking shit up. The batarang is OP.

7. Mega Man 3 ; The better Mega Man because of the creative designs of the stages (also fuck Quick Man. Fuck him in his stupid arse.)

8. Mike Tyson's Punch Out ; Played this religiously every day and then on the GameCube in Animal Crossing. Still couldn't beat Iron Mike.

9. Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu ; I don't know how but this is a freaking amazing game. I thought this is how ancient East Asia looked like. Amazing.

10. Super Mario Bros. 2 ; Basically a maze. Bloody hell.

Honourable mention: Balloon Fight ; RIP Iwata

 

[Lothar]

More people need to play Blaster Master. It would surely be on every list if people had.

 

[Morfeo]

More people need to play Blaster Master. It would surely be on every list if people had.

I have beat it, and while I like it, i think it has too many flaws to be anywhere near a top 10 of the gen. I wouldnt even call it a top 30 on the system.