Your Three Most-Played NES Games

Takumaji

Master Enabler
Staff member
Joined
Jul 24, 2001
Posts
19,029
Playing lots of NES games lately but basically I'm still a NESn00b so I'm sure that I'm missing the more obscure gems of the library. My personal favs at the moment are the usual suspects, you know, the Castlevanias, Megamans, Contras and Ninja Gaidens, so playable, so challenging, pure bliss.

So... list your three most-played NES games here, need some inspiration!
 

FredyFired

Fired up the fuck
Noob of the Year
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Posts
270
Super Mario Bros. 3, Castlevania, Rockman 2 and Battletoads are some of my most played ones.
Though I can still recommend some games that are worth checking out, besides stating the obvious of trying the Mario series, Kirby, Zelda, Metroid and even the Batman games are really good on the NES, here are some lesser known titles or not as frequently talked about.

Check them out:
  • Kick Master
  • Power Blade 2
  • Dragon Fighter
  • Holy Diver
  • Journey to Silius
  • Vice: Project DOOM
  • Little Nemo: The Dream Master
  • Formula One: Built to Win
  • Felix the Cat
  • Bomberman II
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
  • Battletoads/Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team
 

herb

Vice's Love Slave
10 Year Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2014
Posts
2,160
Egypt
Kid Dracula
Splatterhouse

Tried to give a few not as popular games. I do genuinely play these 3 quite often tho
 

LoneSage

A Broken Man
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2004
Posts
44,746
Recently:

Kabuki Quantum Fighter - decent, odd Ninja Gaiden clone.

Metal Storm - one of the best first levels in an NES game, and a really great idea for a game.

Gun-Nac - my favorite shmup on the system.
 

ggallegos1

Cholecystectomy Required.,
10 Year Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2013
Posts
5,153
Three favorite non popular NES games

Jackal
Ice Hockey
Guardian Legend

Jackal is a fantastic co-op shooter, lots of fun to play with people who are not as familiar with NES titles beyond Mario.

Ice Hockey has some fat gameplay, some strategy built in with choosing your play team, and the fights are fun.

Guardian Legend, see above. Great game
 

yagamikun

Art of Typing Wiz
20 Year Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2000
Posts
2,343
Journey to Silius - best Sunsoft game on the hardware imo. Amazing platform shooter with a stellar soundtrack.

Gargoyles Quest 2 - LOVE this game to bits.

Akumajo Densetsu (Japanese Castlevania 3) - More than just better music, the difficulty is even throughout the game with a more forgiving curve, Grant is a MUCH better character overall, along with all sorts of other tweaks. It's like Castlevania 3: Special Championship Edition, basically.

Honorable Mention: Little Samson, Kirby's Adventure, and the Castlevania 2 rom-hack called Castlevania 2 Redacted.

If you want to try some more obscure stuff, check out Cocoron and Rockn' Cats. I feel Gimmick is way overrated, but other folks love it.
 
Last edited:

dspoonrt

Genam's Azami Sharpener
10 Year Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2011
Posts
1,513
Super Mario Bros. 2
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
R.B.I. Baseball

With a lot of Kirby's Adventure, TMNT 2&3, Dr. Mario, and the other SMBs mixed in.
 

madmanjock

Bare AES Handler
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2002
Posts
7,723
Yeah no surprises here:

Final Fantasy 1
Super Mario Bros 3
Castlevania

I really should give OG Zelda another go. But Zelda 2 was a failed experiment.
 

prof

A Great Place to Store Your Dildo Collection
Joined
Jul 15, 2015
Posts
1,221
My 3 most played are no revelations (Contra, Tecmo Super Bowl, and probably Mike Tyson Punch Out or Zelda 1), so that won't do you any good. I feel like I've probably mentioned this to you in chat at one time or another, but Mighty Final Fight is one of the best beat 'em ups on the system, and it rarely comes up in conversation. Highly recommended. Also, off the top of my head, here are a few lesser known games that you'd probably dig...

Run n gun: Guerrilla War, Heavy Barrel
Action: Power Blade 1&2, Shatterhand
Platformer: Little Nemo Dream Master, Darkwing Duck
Racing: RC Pro-Am, Eliminator Boat Duel
 

Takumaji

Master Enabler
Staff member
Joined
Jul 24, 2001
Posts
19,029
Awesome games, guys, I've already tried a few of them like Gun-Nac, Bomberman II, Kabuki Quantum Fighter, Jackal and Heavy Barrel and I love each of them, rrreally good stuff, keep 'em coming!

Man, this will give me months of amazing games to play, thanks a bunch, gents.
 

GohanX

Horrible Goose
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2001
Posts
12,490
No big surprises, but my most played are probably Punch Out, Super Mario 3, and TMNT2.

One thing about the TMNT games, many people consider 2 to be the best, but don't sleep on The Manhattan Project. 2 is a pretty basic port of the arcade game, fun and once you get used to it pretty easy for the most part. Part 3 takes those building blocks and creates a much better, and more difficult game with it. It's fantastic.

Also, almost everything released by Konami is really solid. If it's an arcade port, in most cases instead of making a bland port on inferior hardware they usually redesigned the game from the scratch up to fit the hardware and making changes that benefit the hardware. For example, Contra and Super C are much better on NES than in the arcade. Gradius isn't as good but the NES version is still a lot of fun.
 

Tron

Test
15 Year Member
Joined
May 20, 2004
Posts
8,135
Contra
Castlevania
Salamander

Honorable mentions jackal,super c,gradius,mega man 2,little samson,blaster masters,castlevania III,rygar and ninja gaiden II.
 
Top