Tasha's Top 20 Best NES Games of All Time

10. Star Wars NES (aka Beam Software's Star Wars)

Flying into the next spot is Star Wars. Everyone is familiar with this series as it has managed to take on a life of its own following the first movie's release. The game basically follows Episode IV's storyline pretty closely and puts you in Luke Skywalker's shoes. The game has a nice mix of flying and on-foot gameplay and some hyperspace asteroid dodging. While exploring side-scrolling levels, you have to use your blaster to dispatch foes. You will also get to enjoy a host of familiar characters as you play through this classic. I'm a fan of action platformers as well as Star Wars itself, so this game is one that I like to revisit whenever I can.

9. Ghosts 'N Goblins

Ghosts' n Goblins is next up on the list. Now, as far as challenging games go, this one's way up there. But I love it nonetheless. I love it so much I even got the remake for Switch. However, the NES version is still one of my all-time favorites, and I will play it forever.

The game utilizes subtle, silly humor, like losing your armor down to your undies before death. This side-scrolling adventure has you playing as a knight set to save his kingdom from evil. He goes frolicking through spooky locations like a graveyard, forest, and even caves. You start out with a lance, but you can find several other weapons scattered throughout the levels, all of which are thrown. Enemies come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from birds up to massive monsters. Ghosts' n Goblins is definitely a must-play.

8. Contra (aka Gryzor)

If you read my first list of 20, you will already know that I have a soft spot for the Contra series. So, coming in decently high up is Contra. These muscle-bound, gun toting, acrobats have a very special place in my heart. What's kind of funny is I was just recently playing this game, and here I am putting it on this list.

Basically, you play as a Rambo lookalike running and gunning your way through a host of baddies that come in many forms. Everything from humans, turrets, robots, and straight-up aliens. Each level is filled with power-ups that can change your weapon type or speed up your fire rate, or even give you a shield. Keep an eye out for flying capsules to shoot, and pay attention to the letter on the power-up inside to better understand what it might be. Contra is one of my favorite run-and-gun type games, and I would tell anyone to play it, even now.

7. Metroid

Now truth be told, I was late to the party on Metroid. I didn't really get into this game until much, much later. However, once I like a game, I want to revisit the older versions of it, and I have to say I was not disappointed with this one.

In this original installment, you play as Samus as she tries to defeat the Space Pirates. The Space Pirates are trying to clone the parasitic lifeforms known as Metroids. One of the more remarkable things about Samus, other than the fact she's a female lead who isn't overly sexualized, is that she has abilities not often seen in games of this type. She's kind of like if Sonic, Bomberman, and Megaman had a baby in terms of powers. She has her gun arm, but she can also roll into a fast-moving ball and lay bombs. Of course, she can find power-ups around to make her even stronger so she can face the Mother Brain. Enemies come in an array of strange alien creatures, and some of them are best dodged than killed. Metroid is one of Nintendo's most successful games, and it's no secret as to why.

6. Dyna Blaster (aka Bomberman)

Now, I am biased as far as Bomberman goes. I love this game so much and have spent many an hour playing Bomberman. My preference was always to play while listening to music. To this day, some songs remind me of Bomberman, but I digress.

This classic's premise is you play a little robot man pulling a Pinocchio and trying to become a "real boy." He must bomb his way through levels to get to the surface to become human. Bomberman can poop bombs to blow up obstacles and enemies. Now, I can't say for sure he really poops them, but the thought has always made me giggle. The game is chock full of power-ups that do things like increasing your blast radius or the number of bombs you can drop at a time, as well as a few I won't spoil here. And as you are not impervious to your own bombs, it's best to stay out of the blast zone. If you're into puzzlers, Bomberman is a cute, entertaining go-to that I would strongly recommend.