I knew three people who owned one. One was the son of my parents friends, a couple of years younger than me and when I was dragged along to their house for the day we'd enjoy some gaming. Another was a friend at school who owned Super Mario Bros and Snake Rattle n Roll. And another was my best friend through secondary school who owned lots of games. His dad had a good job.
I've owned a NES for ten years or so but never owned many cartridges. They're too easy to emulate, which in turn produces a superior experience today.
I also got my hands on a NES mini last September, which is a fantastic way to experience the games today, on today's TVs.
As usual these are games that not only excited my at the time, but that I still enjoy playing today.
10. Battletoads
Brutally difficult right from the start, with slippy controls and tragic death drops, there is something strangely compelling about Battletoads. The characters are fun, levels are varied, and hammering B as enemies crumble at your fists is tremendous fun.
9. Snake Rattle n Roll
The rock n roll soundtrack that influenced the game's name was certainly part of the appeal as a child, but beyond that we have a platform game that plays like an advanced version of the game we all enjoyed on our Nokias at the turn of the millennium. Eat to gain length, and gain enough weight to open the exit. Fun twists on the idea make this an essential title.
8. Castlevania
Later Castlevania games improved on the formula, but this is my favourite on NES and set the overall tone and design that the series would follow for some years.
It has it's unfair, frustrating, deaths of course, but the music, action and levels make it worth overcoming.
7. Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles
Oft derided, this game sits in a special part of my heart simply because of its subject matter. The Turtles were huge in my childhood, and this was the first game I and my friends could enjoy that let us BE the Turtles.
It's a hot mess and stinks of being thrown together as quickly as possible to maximise profit, but it has oodles of charm and I still enjoy playing it today.
6. Super Mario Bros 3
What?? Mario 3 at number 6? Surely not? It's the best NES game evah, isn't it? At least according to Twitter it is. But this isn't Twitter's list, it's mine.
I can't deny that Mario 3 deserves a place in every NES collection, or that it is a fantastic game. But it's not my favourite NES game, nor my favourite Mario game on NES, as you'll come to see.
The levels are short and very sweet, the whole aesthetic made us think again on what the NES could do, and the music is (as is standard for the series) fantastically memorable.
But it's not the best one. Shut up.
5. Mega Man 2
Another popular option. I thought about other Mega Man games for my list, but number two is the best of the bunch. Somehow the stars aligned and we have a near perfect balance between high difficulty and clever accessibility.
Level themes are varied and the bosses are either fun or ridiculously hard depending on if you select the correct weapon for them.
4. Bubble Bobble
Back in the late 1980s my cousin had inherited his dad's Atari 2600. The big old TV they had in their loft to use with it was knackered - you had to turn it on and wait 10 minutes for the tiny white dot to wake up and give you an image. One of the games we played the most was Bubble Bobble, making our way to level 100 was a triumphant moment, until the game told us we had to go backwards towards level 1 again!
Bubble Bobble for NES is one of the finest conversions of the title, and one of the finest arcade conversions on the console. The music, graphics and importantly the levels are intact and still fun to play through today.
3. Super Mario Bros
I told you we'd come back to this series. And what a game! Truth be told I'm more likely to play the SNES All-Stars version, but whatever.
Platforming perfected, everything about this game was put together from perfect parts, and result is a speed runner's favourite. Even today I play this more often than anything else, whenever I have just a few spare minutes.
2. Chip n Dale: Rescue Rangers
I must confess to being quite unfamiliar with the TV show. I have vague memories of it, but it certainly wasn't one of my favourites.
This game, however, was the main go-to for a friend and I for multiplayer gaming. Jumping around, throwing crates at enemies, falling to our death on climbing sections. Such fun. As was (and maybe still is) typical for Disney games, this was a joyful experience. Bright colours, brighter music, and really capturing the essence of the property.
Just as much fun on your own (well, almost), this is in my list for one very good reason - It's very good!
1.
Dun dun duuuuuuuuun!
I bet you didn't see that coming, did you? No-one's favourite Mario game. All the clever clever parrots want to tell us that this is in fact a reskinned Doki Doki Panic and therefore not a "true" Mario game. And yet here it is, proudly proclaimed as RetroRam's most favouritest NES game of all time in the world evah!
There's a story behind this. Way back when, I used to rent my babysitter'a brother's NES along with this one game. My mum felt that video games were bad and should be limited, so I would get up in the night and play while everyone else slept. This only helped improve the bond I felt to the game.
The biggest difference between this and it's series peers is the ability to select between Mario, Luigi (jumps higher/farther), Toad (pulls up roots faster) and Peach (floats for a while after jumping). This gives you different methods to beat each level, or if you're clever and learn what stage is next you can simply choose the most suitable character. Or just use Peach all the time and float between platforms.
I wonder. Assuming this character select is true to Doki Doki Panic, then it is this game that made sure that Luigi would jump higher and have more inertia than his brother. This difference in control continues to this day, and indeed made an appearance in The Lost Levels - otherwise known as Super Mario Bros 2 in Japan only!
Boss fights are more exciting than in Super Mario Bros too, requiring some fine dexterity from the player. Birdo is fun too. A transvestite alien thing who spits eggs to you from his snout. Jumping on said eggs and returning them to sender is great fun.
I do play SMB and SMB3 more frequently these days, but only because they lend themselves better to speed running when time is short. SMB2, then, is perhaps a thinking man's Mario. One to savour, taking your time with it.
Honourable Mentions
Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles 2: The Arcade Game - a far from perfect conversion, but still the Turtles arcade game, playable at home!
Nintendo World Cup - ok, this is crap now. It was probably crap then, but in its time it was still a lot of fun, and probably the best football game on consoles until the 16-bits started to enjoy good FIFA titles.
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