Despite being over 40 years old, the original NES is still home to some truly great games, and some of those games have truly aged like wine. And while there’s obvious games to choose, like Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda, we also wanted to highlight well-aged titles that are not universally adored on an almost second-to-second basis. Some of these choices may surprise you, but all of them are examples of NES games worth your time in 2024 and beyond.
1. Vice: Project Doom
Developer: Aicom
Publisher: Sammy
Vice: Project Doom is an NES game that’s aged extremely well, and that’s a thought that carries across the varied levels you’ll be playing through, driving and fighting across such locations as Chinatown and a bio-tech laboratory. All in a game that looks like an indie that could be released on Steam today.
While many NES games struggled with multiple gameplay formats in a single cartridge — you go to hell, Bayou Billy — Vice: Project Doom nailed the mix nicely. An action game in which you play a Vice Squad detective investigating an addictive gel, Vice Project Doom featured the expected side-scrolling platformer action, but also included driving and rail-shooter stages. All of these levels are fun, control great across each unique setting, and give the whole experience a sense of grandeur and scope you won’t always find with action NES games.
And it’s not just the gameplay that keeps Vice: Project Doom in the range of decades old NES games that still have a lot to offer. Graphically, the game looked great for its time, and it does today too, with varied and distinctive sprites against lovely backdrops throughout the different types of stages. You’ll also find Project Doom to be brutally difficult in that nostalgic NES way, but the game rarely feels unfair.
Difficult to put down, Vice: Project Doom also has some truly underrated level designs from long-forgotten developer Aicom.
2. Contra
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Contra offered a perfect run-and-gun experience in arcades and on the NES in 1988, and the frenetic joy of that experience is alive and well decades later. Contra arms you with a cache of rapid-fire weaponry and a basic plot, slightly changed for western audiences, involving an alien invasion and marines who for legal reasons technically aren’t Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone in the same way that Solid Snake technically isn’t Michael Biehn.
Konami and copyright law in the 1980s: no.
Even with several superior sequels among its ranks, as well as stuff like some mediocre PS1 efforts, the first Contra still gets a significant amount of affection from old and new players alike. The insanity begins by throwing you into a gunfight that quickly turns into something far fantastical than a simple combat mission. Juggling different playing perspectives, including a stylized pseudo-3D effect that has you moving and shooting towards the background, Contra never gets boring. It’s a tough game, even for today, with a reputation for being bullshit hard that hasn’t changed very much. But it’s an immensely satisfying kind of bullshit hard, and hey, you’ve always got the Konami code to give you a little edge.
Contra remains a classic that should be at the top of your to-play list, if you’re new to the world of the NES. Longtime fans can pick up the game anytime and have the same blast they did in 1988.
3. Faxanadu
Developer: Hudson
Publisher: Nintendo
Despite a title that becomes less fun to say as time goes on, especially as it reminds us of ancient inventions like the fax machine, Faxanadu is ageless and unfortunately relatively obscure. This RPG/side-scrolling hybrid doesn’t have quite as much marquee value as some of the other games we’re covering here, and that’s a damn shame. You are the hero who must aid the king and save the elven kingdom of Eolis from ruin. It’s a nice, basic story, and it’s suitably nicely told, but where Faxanadu becomes an enduring must-play in the modern world is in its presentation.
With surprisingly sharp, distinctive visuals and backgrounds, evoking a highly unusual H.R. Giger vibe for a fantasy setting, Faxanadu goes deep into building the details of its world through the varied people you meet along the way. Even as the game has very hard limits to its depth, there’s an immersive world here that can catch you by surprise, combined with one of the most underrated soundtracks in perhaps the entire NES library.
While a bit grindy at times, and first-timers to the game will want to beware the notoriously annoying password system, Faxanadu demands careful strategy and iming, and never really lets you catch your breath, as you bring order to the kingdom in the middle of sending important documents.
4. Mega Man 2
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
If we have to choose only one Mega Man game across a run of six platformers ranging from very good to phenomenal, we’re going with one of the best video game sequels of all time.
Mega Man 2 took the core gameplay of the initial installment and refined it with more interesting robot henchmen, including Heat Man, Quick Man, and Crash Man. These improvements extend to the stage designs, with each boss getting a level built around their details. Air Man has you fighting in the clouds. Wood Man has you barrelling through lush greenery surrounded by various killer robots. The improvements even extend to the very barebones plot, which nevertheless creates genuine stakes in Mega Man’s battle with the fiendish Dr. Wiley.
Mega Man 2 is a tough one to beat, even today, but it’s arguably the most measured in difficulty across the first six games. The slipperiness of the platforming is still a bit of a problem, but is considerably better than the first title. You have good mechanics for the foundation of Mega Man 2, a game that anyone today can pick up and become enamored with.
Capcom was seriously hitting their stride for creativity, challenge, and proving the NES could play games with kickass soundtracks that were also as bright and colorful as they were infuriating in the most difficult spots. Mega Man 2 isn’t just a timeless Mega Man adventure. It’s a portrait of a developer that was quickly standing out from almost anyone else on the NES.
5. Crystalis
Developer: SNK
Publisher: SNK
Clean sprites, smooth backgrounds, and excellent top-down RPG mechanics all conspire to make Crystalis one of the best-aged NES games we’re going to go over. Set in a world that feels quite vast for Nintendo’s first western console, with a fast-paced approach to combat that will have you consistently developing and reworking your strategies for enemies who will absolutely rock your sh**t if you come at them under-leveled, Crystalis is another underappreciated action RPG.
Cystalis also ages well for an ambitious-for-its time story. You’re a young magician awakening from cryogenic sleep in the years-long aftermath of nuclear war. As you set about solving the mystery of your very identity, you learn that you may also be the one thing that can redeem the world from the ashes of disaster. Not a bad plot by any means, and Crystalis further sets itself apart from its contemporaries by giving you a varied world to travel and explore, with lots of monsters and some excellent creature designs for the era.
It’s a perfect choice for those looking for something else along the lines of the original Legend of Zelda without an old man guilting you out of your rupees. Fix the damn door yourself.
6. Kirby’s Adventure
Developer: HAL Laboratory
Publisher: Nintendo
The Kirby series has evolved, refined, and even experimented, so it’s impressive just how much of the heart and soul of this series can be found in the 1993 late-stage NES release Kirby’s Adventure.
The simple platforming mechanics can be found here, as well as the standard ability Kirby had to suck up enemies, and then spit them back out as projectiles. Where Kirby’s Adventure arguably changed everything for the little pink guy was in the addition by director Masahiro Sakurai of the copy ability.
If you know the Kirby series, then you know the copy ability is still a fundamental component to almost every Kirby game. Like Mario has his jumping boots, Kirby has his mouth — and never shall the pair meet.
Kirby’s ability not only adds a good deal more fun to a game that was pretty entertaining to begin with, but the copy ability also adds depth to how you progress through a bright, charming, and also relatively easy game that does come back with a tougher-than-you-might think third act, if you aren’t ready for it.
Kirby’s Adventure, like any of the best Kirby games, can surprise you in all sorts of good and occasionally maddening ways.
7. Punch-Out!!
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
With a soundtrack that is almost guaranteed to get stuck in your head for the rest of your wretched life, Punch-Out!! is another NES game that hasn’t given up much with time. The graphics were pretty damn good for a 1987 console game, and the character designs for such opponents in this boxing classic as Glass Joe, Bald Bull, and King Hippo have only gotten more endearing. The controls are extremely simple, with a level of accessibility and cartoon appeal that has made the game one of the most beloved on the NES.
Nostalgia aside, Punch-Out!! Remains one of the most addictive and demanding games the console ever produced. Anyone can pick up the controller, get a sense of their surroundings, and find themselves working on the disciplined, deliberate strategy that must be employed in order to defeat a string of massive opponents on your road to the championship. I
Punch-Out is a game that will have you tearing your hair out until you get it right, but few games in the near 40 years since its release have ever felt as satisfying when you pull it off. With practice and memory, anyone can pull off that seemingly impossible response to the impending fury of Macho Man, Mr. Dream, or maybe some prelim bum named Mike Tyson.
8. Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
As we all eventually come to grips with the harrowing reality that Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse is four decades old, we can also appreciate what is arguably the best of this franchise on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse went bigger on everything, including story, graphics, and another electrifying vintage Konami soundtrack. Most of the issues people had with Simon’s Quest were addressed, creating a considerably less-obtuse-but-no-less-challenging story that’s set a full century before the events of the previous two games.
Dracula’s Curse also retained the basic components of why people loved Castlevania in the first place. Namely careful platforming, killing vampires and other monsters with a trusty whip, and maybe kicking up a secret or two. Recruitable companions and paths that could branch off and provide a completely different playing experience added layers to a game that was already pretty good to begin with. Graphically and in terms of another banger 80s Konami soundtrack, we’re talking about elements of why this game is still great that can be found in most modern Metroidvania games. You could drop this 30+ year old game into the middle of the current landscape, and Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse would handle itself just fine.
9. Dragon Warrior IV
Developer: Chunsoft
Publisher: Enix
The early Dragon Warrior games are worth a look if you’re a fan of old-school JRPGs, and Dragon Warrior IV in particular is the best one of the franchise’s NES run. This impressively expansive 8-bit story is spread across five distinct chapters that each focus on a different protagonist, with the fifth and final chapter being the lengthy tale of the game’s actual hero, who must bring all of the previously introduced plot elements and characters together. It’s extremely ambitious for a 90s NES RPG, and you have to marvel even now at how much of an improvement this fourth game was on every level.
Dragon Warrior IV also added fun new features like relatively easier options for saving your game, in addition to a tactics system that allowed you to program party members to carry out certain specific strategies. Nothing special about that these days, but these improvements spoke to a franchise that would continue to evolve into a mainline series that continues to produce excellent games to this day.
For some fans, Dragon Warrior IV is virtually timeless in its appeal as the first truly good Dragon Quest game. If you’re biding your time until Dragon Quest XII, you could do a lot worse.
10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
While the first NES TMNT game really isn’t as bad as some claim, the sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game went for a far more straightforward and crowd-pleasing approach. Released as a surprisingly robust port of the 1989 arcade hit in 1990, TMNT II is a side-scrolling beat-em-up loaded with references and characters to the cartoon. More than the game before it, this was the first Turtles game to really feel as though it came from the world of these characters.
Besides atmosphere and source material accuracy, which are pretty pointless if the game itself isn’t fun to play, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game is just pure brawling entertainment. You don’t need to know a thing about these characters or even how to play video games to pick up the NES controller and start kicking ass in a matter of seconds.
The difficulty in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game is balanced throughout, and the wide variety of enemies and situations gives you the sense of playing through an episode of the classic TV series. This is the approach that most of the future best TMNT games would follow. The recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge brought a slew of new ideas to the table, but it also came with a deep respect for the very simple, enduringly addictive side scrolling brawler formula that began with the arcade TMNT game and this impressive 1990 port.
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