Plays like Castlevania, but much harder.

This game has nice graphics, and interesting gameplay featuring an alien that morphs into various objects depending on what flavor of jelly bean you feed him. But the game falls apart due to its nearly impossible difficulty level. Without a walkthrough, there is no way you can beat this game.

Interesting gameplay that has beat 'em up levels, third-person racing levels, and Zapper levels. Also has good music. Difficult.

Sokoban-style gameplay.

A vertical shooter that sadly has no ending. It just has a few levels that loop forever.

This is a medieval-themed game where you use an axe to chop your way through levels. It was released late in the life of the NES, so it has nice graphics and large, colorful sprites. It almost looks like a Genesis or SNES game.

Fun game with great graphics and music that is based on the 1989 movie.

Action/adventure/platformer that requires you to use a grappling hook to get around.

Best hockey game I've ever played.

Awesome gameplay where you drive a very maneuverable tank in side-view perspective to get to locations where you exit the tank and fight in an isometric perspective. Lots of exploration involved. Awesome graphics, sound and music. The story is a bit weak, but who needs a story?

Great arcade translation. It has two-player co-op. The final boss is nearly impossible to beat, though.

Better graphics, music and sound than the first, but it loses the two-player co-op, so it's kind of pointless.

This horror-themed plaformer is fun, until you get to the final boss (Dracula), and discover that even with save states, you aren't likely to beat him.

This is an unusual platformer in that it allows two players to play simultaneously. But the difficulty level is far too high, which ruins the game.

Race boats with weapons through obstacles to complete the mission on time.

Absolutely incredible run 'n' gun style game that includes 2-player co-op.

Action/adventure/platformer with difficult gameplay.

Complete the 6 stages based on park rides in order to unlock the Disney Castle.

This game includes both Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. They were both released as stand-alone games previously. Unfortunately, both games are missing levels. This is really unacceptable, especially since the NES could easily have handled them. If they had included all the levels, this would have been a perfect port of the games.

Best basketball game I have ever played.

This was the first RPG that I ever played. I enjoyed it, although you have to do a TON of leveling up before you can hope to enter the dungeons. The interface has not aged well, either, since it makes you select all your actions from a menu, sometimes multiple levels deep, to do various actions such as opening doors or treasure chests or talking to people.

This game has you racing a motorcycle in a side-view isometric-perspective. You have to rotate you motorcycle in order to land jumps correctly, and you have to avoid overheating your engine. It's fun for a while. It has a level editor, but there is no way to save your levels, so it's kind of pointless.

Action/adventure/platformer with RPG-like elements.

Isometric perspective action/adventure game, like the isometric parts of Blaster Master. Very difficult.

As a counter-terrorist, you must shoot the terrorists without hitting the hostages.

Fun, though not completely faithful, conversion of the arcade classic.

Nice arcade conversion. Four players can play together with a multi-tap. The only bad part is that there is no ending to the game. The first 6 levels are always in the same order. After that, the levels are randomly chosen from 100 available. After 100 levels, they start to repeat.

Control your character or vehicle in side-scrolling action to get to the end of the levels loosely based on the movie.

Pretty fun golf game played from an overhead perspective.

Sequel to a game that was never released in the US. Switches from side-scrolling to first-person in some areas.

Fun light gun game where you must shoot the gangster instead of the innocent person. Also includes a mode where you must shoot falling cans and try to get them to land on pedestals.

Vehicle shooter/adventure with 2-player co-op. Drive your jeep through levels to rescue hostages and defeat enemies.

Greek mythology theme. Uses the same game engine as Metroid, but is more linear than Metroid, and way harder.

Medieval themed vertical shooter.

Awesome platformer starring Kirby, who can suck in enemies and then use their abilities.

Good arcade conversion.

Action/adventure game in an isometric perspective. Control Link as he explores and makes his way through dungeons filled with monsters to rescue the kidnapped Princess Zelda.

Like the first, but switches to side-view perspective in dungeons.

Fun vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up with nice graphics, music and gameplay.

Great platformer with nice graphics, sound and music.

This fun medieval-themed platformer has you switching between a human that throws bells, a dragon that can hover for short times and shoots fire, a golem that is slow but strong, and a mouse that is weak, but can get into tight places and can place bombs. You have to switch between the four characters to beat the levels.

Gameplay is identical to other platforms, but the screen scrolls around, which makes the NES version more difficult, because you can't see enemies that are outside the screen.

Action/adventure/platformer, like a linear Metroid with a focus on action.

Good conversion of the arcade game. Too bad there is no trackball for NES.

The first of the never-ending series. The Mega-Man games let you play their levels in any order. When you get to the end of a level, you fight a boss. When you beat that boss, you get his ability. There is strategy in choosing the order to play the levels, because some abilities work great against certain bosses.

More Mega Man action.

More Mega Man action.

More Mega Man action.

More Mega Man action.

More Mega Man action. Last of the series on NES.

Amazing action/adventure/platformer/shooter that has atmospheric graphics and music, and great gameplay that requires exploration. As you discover new abilities, you are able to explore further into the game. Even the storyline is great. The twist at the end was unexpected. The game is so big that it has a password system to let you start where you left off for multi-day gaming sessions. Overall, an outstanding game in every way.

Side-scrolling ninja action. One of the first games to use cut scenes to tell the story. Very difficult.

This is the sequel to Rainbow Islands, and is the third in the Bubble Bobble series. But it doesn't have two-player co-op, so it's kind of pointless.

Race R.C. cars with weapons in an isometric perspective.

This is the sequel to Bubble Bobble, but it doesn't have two-player co-op, so it's kind of pointless.

Typical beat 'em up gameplay, except that you can use money to purchase upgrades. It also has exploration elements.

Beat 'em up with nice graphics and medieval setting.

This isometric platformer has you collecting balls to add segments to your snake. It includes two-player co-op gameplay. The controls are a bit tricky, which keeps this from being a 4-star game.

Plays like Thrust or Gravitar. Using thrust, you must maneuver your spacecraft against gravity and obstacles to land and pick up pieces of a space craft, which must then be taken to the top again.

Space combat flight-sim. Plays like Star Raiders. Difficult gameplay. It was one of the first games I bought for my NES, but I have still never beaten it.

Loosely based on the arcade game.

Sequel to the amazing Contra. It's pretty much more of the same.

Super Mario Bros. is an amazing scrolling platformer staring Mario. It shows its age, but it is still fun to play. Duck Hunt is a light game where you must shoot the ducks or clay pigeons before they get away. This cartridge came with the NES for many years.

Super Mario Bros. 2 is the Japanese Doki-Doki Panic with Mario characters added. It's a fun game, though it plays somewhat differently than other SMB games. The Japanese SMB2 was just SMB1 with harder levels.

The last and best of the SMB series on NES. This game is incredible. It has an overworld where you choose which level you want to play next, sometimes with branching to different sets of levels. Various upgrades can be found to make Mario have new abilities, such as the tanuki suit that lets Mario fly, the frog suit that lets Mario swim fast and jump high, and you also get the standard upgrades such as mushrooms and stars, but you can store them and use them when needed. They even included a vs. Mario Bros. game that you can play if you and the second player are on the same location of the overworld map. Great game!

Good tennis game. Probably the best on NES.

A fun action/adventure game with racing/shooter and platformer elements. Uses cut scenes to tell the story.

Plays like a linear Metroid, but with more difficult gameplay, and no exploration.