The Best NES games I’ve Played So Far

Since it has been a while, I looked back at all the NES games I’ve made videos and blog posts about. Previously, I wrote about my favorite NES games, and I wanted to update that list because I’ve played more. I’m going to try to limit this to fifteen if I can.

Some of these games have been my favorite NES games for a long time, and I have some great memories of playing them. Others are games that I’ve played in the last few years, and left an impression on me. These are the games that I enjoyed the most out of all the NES games I’ve played.

There are a lot of games in the NES library that I haven’t had a chance to play or haven’t reviewed yet. I tried to keep one game per series. I’m also limiting this to the games that I’ve done reviews on my blog or YouTube channel. Let’s get into the list.

Bottom Line up Front: A list of My Favorite NES games so far

Final Fantasy

This is the first RPG that I can remember playing. When I first played Final Fantasy, I had no idea what I was doing. After having things explained to me, I had a lot of fun playing it. After a few decades of playing this game, it has gotten a little stale, but it is still one of the best NES games that I’ve played.

Final Fantasy has a good story, fun gameplay, and the graphics are very good. I like the dark fantasy setting of this game. Things feel rather bleak at the start of the game, which works well for the game’s plot. Things do get a little too complicated when it comes to the game’s time loop ending, but it isn’t as bad as it could’ve been.

I do like Final Fantasy, even if I have played it way too many times. It feels like a comfort game at this point. Playing through it feels like muscle memory as I know exactly what I need to do and where I have to go. It is one of my favorite NES games, but not one of my favorite RPGs.

Dragon Quest IV

 What I like the most about this game is how different it is from the other Dragon Warrior/Quest games on the NES. Dragon Quest IV tells its story in an episodic way, which is something that I enjoy. It is starting a new story instead of continuing from the previous game.

The story is divided into five chapters in the NES version of the game. Remakes have added more to the story, but I’m focusing on the NES game. The chapter where you play as the merchant is probably my favorite, because you can just run a store. It’s such an interesting thing in an RPG for it to stop in its tracks to run a store.

I played this game a while ago. It was such a fun game to revisit since I didn’t like it that much when I played it back in the 1990s. This has turned out to be my favorite of the games on the NES. I’ve only played five of the Dragon Quest games in the main line series, and this is my favorite one so far.

Destiny of an Emperor

Destiny of an Emperor is not only one of my favorite NES games, but one of my favorite RPGs. This is an alternate history of the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. It is based on a manga, which is a fictional take on those historical events. Every time I write that, I feel like I made it more confusing than I needed to.

In this game, you control the army of Liu Bei, and your goal is to unify ancient China. There are some unique game mechanics where you can recruit enemy generals to your side, which is how you fill out your party early in the game, until you find all the members of your party. This is a low fantasy setting where there are no monsters or magic, which is a nice change of pace from the other RPGs on the NES.

I first played this game in the mid 1990s when I downloaded a ROM. I quickly fell in love with the game and went out of my way to find it when I started collecting games. Destiny of an Emperor left a huge impression on me, and it is an RPG that I go back to every now and then.

Rampage

Rampage was as close to a real Godzilla or King Kong game that we were going to get on the NES. It is a port of an arcade game, and while it took a graphical hit, the game is wonderful. I was just getting into monster movies back in the early 1990s, and playing this felt like I was playing a Godzilla movie.

One of the monsters from the arcade game isn’t here. The NES game got Lizzie and George, but I also thought they were Godzilla and King Kong. In the game, you wander around the United States destroying cities.

You can beat this game in one sitting. It will take a few hours, but it can be done. Rampage is one of the games that I rented quite a few times, and I played it with my friend Drew in between watching Godzilla movies. I have quite a few memories of playing the game, which helps to make it stand out more for me. 

Donkey Kong 3

 I like weird games, and you can’t get much weirder than Donkey Kong 3. It is a platformer shooter where you shoot bug spray at Donkey Kong. It doesn’t make a lot of sense as a sequel to the other two Donkey Kong games, but that doesn’t always matter when it comes to an arcade game.

This is a single-screen arcade shooter that has you playing as Stanley the Bugman. For reasons known only to the developers, Donkey Kong is mad at him and attacks Stanley’s greenhouse. He also has an army of bugs with him. This game feels like a mash-up of Galaga and Donkey Kong.

I have no idea when I first played this game. When I started collecting games again in the 2010s, this was one of the games that I picked up. I must’ve watched a YouTube review of it and wanted to try the game for myself. I found it to be a lot of fun, even if it is a little strange.

Legend of Zelda

 The Legend of Zelda was the first video game I got as a birthday present. It is a game that I’ve played plenty of times and have bought on several platforms. I have so many ways to play this game that it is a little ridiculous. This is the first and only game that I feel like I’m an expert on.

Most people probably know the story of this game, because the story for many of the Legend of Zelda games is basically the same. You play as Link, you have to gather the Triforce, and then defeat Ganon. It is a formula that works very well, and Nintendo would repeat it in some form for a while.

Playing this game feels like muscle memory for me. I know where the items and secrets are, and it is still fun to go through this game. This is one of those games where you need to look at the manual and the map that came with the game. It isn’t the game that I would recommend to new players, but it is one of the games that I love.  

1942

 1942 is a very fun port of Capcom’s arcade game. This was a game that I played with my friend Joey. It was one of the games that he owned, and we played it quite a bit when we were little. Most of the NES games that I played were at Joey’s house, which was the house that we all gathered at when I was little.

This is a vertical scrolling shooter where you fly a biplane. It is a pretty basic shooter where you collect power-ups and bonus points. Instead of having a bomb that clears the screen, you have a loop maneuver that avoids enemies.

1942 is one of my favorite NES games, even if there are better shooters. It is a simple game, but the gameplay is solid enough to keep me playing. There isn’t a lot of flash to this game, but there doesn’t need to be. It is simply a fun game that I enjoy playing it.  

Kung Fu Heroes

 This is a very fun single-screen beat’em up. Kung Fu Heroes is part of a series of arcade games, and after playing this, it made me want to see what the other games were like. Like all good games, this one gets more challenging as the game goes on.

 This was another game that I bought and then forgot about. When I started going through the beat’em ups on the NES, this game stood out to me. It was much more fun than I was expecting it to be. There are some hidden stages, and you have to use some strategy when trying to beat the bosses.

This is a cartoony game, which is something that I love about it. The gameplay is very fun, the graphics are good, and I enjoy how challenging the game is. For me, this is one of the better beat’em ups on the NES, and it is a game that I really enjoyed.

Pro Wrestling

 This is one of my favorite retro wrestling games. Pro Wrestling on the NES is part of the Fire Pro Wrestling series by setting the foundation for those games. It was so much fun to go back and play this game when I went through all the wrestling games on the NES.

There isn’t a story for this game, and it doesn’t have a license from one of the wrestling promotions. What it does have is great gameplay and good graphics. The roster of wrestlers is great! They feel different from each other, and they have some unique moves.

This game is so far beyond most of the wrestling games on the NES. It is a toss-up for me on which game is better, either Pro Wrestling or Tecmo World Wrestling. Both of them are great, but I like Pro Wrestling more than that one.

Heavy Barrel

Heavy Barrel is one of the many Commando clones that were released in the 1980s. It is a wonderful run-and-gun shooter, and a game that I enjoyed when I finally got to play it. This is one of the games that I didn’t know about until I started collecting video games. It was initially released in the arcades in 1987 before coming to the NES.

The game is similar to games like Commando, Mercs, and Jackal. The console version of Heavy Barrel feels a lot easier than Commando. It is a good port of a fun arcade game. When I went back to play it, I found this to be a very fun game with good graphics and controls.

There isn’t too much to criticize with Heavy Barrel. It is a solid game, and I wish I had played it earlier. It is always fun to stumble across a game like this when you’re collecting games or when it pops up in a retro collection. Overall, it is a good game that felt like I was playing a version of Commando with better graphics.

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest

I have a few memories of playing this game as a kid. Then I forgot about it until I started watching YouTube, and learned that it was a “terrible game.” After playing this game again, I think it is a fun game that has a lot of little problems that add up over time. It feels like an unfinished game that was pushed out to market.

Most people probably know the story by now. You play as Simon Belmont, and you have to find the remains of Dracula. Once you do this, you have to fight Dracula. The biggest issues that this game has are in the translation and not having a map or any indication of where you are. All the clues are in the game, but they don’t always make sense.

When I went back to play this game, I enjoyed it for what it was. The controls are okay, but the graphics were quite good and fit the creepy atmosphere that I want from a Castlevania game. I like this game more than most people. It is a fun game that needs a guide, especially if you want to get the best ending.

Air Fortress

Air Fortress is one of the games I got for Christmas, and was one of the few games I owned when I was a kid. It is a strange hybrid of a shooter and a Metroid game. I have quite a few memories of playing it, because it was all I had for a while.

Each level is in two stages. The first part is a side-scrolling shooter where you collect all your bombs and energy. You’ll need these for the next section. The second part is like Metroid, but with a time limit after you’ve beaten the stage boss. You have to find the reactor, destroy it, and then find the exit.

The game is a bit of a mess, but that is part of the reason that I like it. I wouldn’t say that it does either genre particularly well, but combining them helps this to stand out. I also have some fond memories tied to this game. It has decent graphics and fun gameplay that is challenging enough to keep you playing.

Sweet Home

I wasn’t too sure about putting this one on the list because it is a Famicom game, but I really like it! This is a unique RPG that has a lot of features you’ll see in a survival horror game. It had amazing graphics and great gameplay.

This game’s story is very good. It is a movie-based game, and it does an excellent job of working in the movie’s plot. There are cut scenes that are right out of the movie, and the story sticks close to it. Sweet Home has a multi-party system, which works well, and I like how the developers made every character feel important.

Thanks to fan translations, Sweet Home is more accessible to people outside of Japan. I’m really glad that I had the chance to play this game. It is one of the best retro RPGs that I’ve played, and it is an excellent horror game.

King’s Knight

This is a shooter that I really wanted to like more than I did. There is something about King’s Knight that makes me want to keep playing it. It had good graphics, fun gameplay, and some interesting game mechanics that made it a lot of fun to play.

There are four characters, and they’re supposed to merge together in the final stage. This means you play through the first four stages, and if anyone survives, then you go to the final stage. The game is set up for you to have all your characters, and you will need them to get the true ending. It makes the game more challenging, and it is a creative way of doing things.

King’s Knight is a unique game in the NES library. It has some good ideas that you don’t see in other shooters from this time. This is a game that I like to come back to from time to time because of how different it is.

Tecmo Super Bowl

I’ve written about this game quite a few times. Tecmo Super Bowl was a Christmas present, and became one of my favorite games on the NES. I also went out of my way to collect the games in the series as soon as I could. This version of the game is the one that I have the most memories of.

This is an arcade football game that has the licenses for the NFL and the NFLPA. It has all the NFL teams from the 1990 NFL season, and most of the players from that year. It is such a fun game, and it makes the game more playable. I have a lot of fond memories of playing this game and catching my brother cheating.

This is one of my favorite video games. It has great controls, good graphics, and is a game that I can keep coming back to. In recent years, I had a lot of fun digging into the history of the game and trying to find out why some players aren’t in the game.

Fire ‘n Ice

This is one of the most recent NES games that I’ve played. Fire ‘n Ice was one of the games that I bought in the late 2000s, and then forgot about. I tested it to make sure it worked, and then set it on a shelf.

This is a puzzle platformer where you play as a wizard who has ice magic. You use this to defeat the fire monsters, cross gaps, and anything else you can think of. It is a fairly long game, but it has a number of features that make it more fun to play.

Going back to take another look at this game was a lot of fun. The graphics are good, the gameplay is fun, and I got a good laugh at the story. This is a challenging game that never got frustrating for me.

Conclusion

There are so many great games on the NES. I’ve only played a fraction of them, which means I can update this game a few times as I play more. Since I’ve limited this to the games that I’ve reviewed for YouTube and my blog, this list is a little odd.

Some of these are my favorite games, and others are games that I have a newfound appreciation for. The NES was how I found out about arcade games. I didn’t grow up near an arcade, so I never played these games in an arcade. It wasn’t until much later that I even learned about some of them being arcade games.

This is a topic that I’ll have to revisit, not only for the NES, but for the other retro gaming consoles. At some point, I’ll go over the lists of the SNES, Genesis, and PS1 games that I’ve played. I haven’t played enough Dreamcast and N64 games at this point to make lists about those consoles. That will have to wait for another time.

If you liked this post, please check out some of my best of lists. Best Games on the Sega Genesis or Best Games on the SNES.