VGS's Top NES/Famicom Games List (post your top 10 here)

[scaryice | 585]

Let's create an overall ranking of our top NES/Famicom games! There was a similar thread a decade ago on Nintendo Age, and there was also something similar for many years on the Gamefaqs NES forum. I'm curious to see how VGS's list will look compared to those. Basically, you post your top 10 here, and those points (10 for 1st, 9 for 2nd, etc) will be be added up to form the list. Feel free to include games from any region, homebrews, whatever - just no multicarts. Games must be ranked in order for them to be included.

 

OVERALL RANKING

(32 voters so far)

		Points	1sts
1	Super Mario Bros. 3	150	5
2	Legend of Zelda	92	3
3	Mega Man 2	87	1
4	Super Mario Bros.	62	3
5	Contra	59	1
6	Mike Tyson's Punch Out	55
7	Ninja Gaiden	54
8	Super Mario Bros. 2	51
9	Zelda II	40	2
10	Mega Man 3	39
11	Kirby's Adventure	38	2
12	Tetris	36	3
12	Castlevania III	36	1
14	Dragon Warrior III	35	2
15	Castlevania	33
16	Batman	29	1
16	Battletoads	29
18	Dr. Mario	28	1
18	Gun Nac	28
20	Mega Man 5	27	2
21	StarTropics	26
22	Duck Tales	24
22	Mega Man 4	24	1
24	Recca	23
24	Super C	23
26	Gimmick	22
27	Fire & Ice	19
27	Life Force	19
29	TMNT 2	17
30	TMNT 3	16
31	Mega Man	15
31	Tecmo Super Bowl	15
33	Ninja Gaiden II	14
33	Ninja Gaiden III	14
33	Zanac	14
36	Bubble Bobble	13
36	Dragon Warrior	13	1
38	Dragon Warrior II	12
38	Dragon Warrior IV	12
38	Felix the Cat	12
38	Guardian Legend	12
42	Battle Kid 2	11
42	Metal Storm	11
44	Abadox	10	1
44	Chip & Dale: Rescue Rangers	10
44	Gradius	10
44	Legacy of the Wizard	10	1
44	Milon's Secret Castle	10
44	Shatterhand	10	1
44	Splatterhouse	10
51	Cowboy Kid	9
51	Marble Madness	9
51	Mega Man 6	9
54	Adventures of Dino Riki	8
54	Adventures of Lolo	8
54	Double Dragon III	8
54	Metroid	8
54	Power Blade	8
54	Rainbow Islands	8
54	Rockin' Kats	8
61	Bomberman	7
61	Excitebike	7
61	G.I. Joe	7
61	Gyruss	7
61	Star Soldier	7
66	Adventure Island	6
66	Battle of Olympus	6
66	Bucky O'Hare	6
66	Galaxy 5000	6
66	Gun Smoke	6
66	Little Samson	6
66	Robocco Wars	6
66	Super Bat Puncher	6
66	TMNT	6
75	Zoda's Revenge	6
75	Destiny of an Emperor	5
75	Ghosts 'n Goblins	5
75	Jackal	5
75	Project Blue	5
75	Sqoon	5
81	Burai Fighter	4
81	Dragon Spirit	4
81	Dynowarz	4
81	Lode Runner	4
81	Maniac Mansion	4
81	Pinball	4
81	Q*Bert	4
81	Ufouria	4
89	Castlevania II	3
89	Crystalis	3
89	Double Dragon	3
89	Double Dragon II	3
89	Dungeon Magic	3
89	Final Fantasy	3
89	Gradius II	3
89	Kickle Cubicle	3
89	Loopz	3
89	Pac Mania	3
89	Paperboy	3
89	Rolling Thunder	3
101	Adventures of Lolo 2	2
101	Crisis Force	2
101	Darkwing Duck	2
101	Dragon Fighter	2
101	Faxanadu	2
101	Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu	2
101	Kid Icarus	2
101	Klax	2
101	Pac Land	2
101	RC Pro-Am	2
101	Snake Rattle 'n Roll	2
101	Snow Brothers	2
113	Adventures of Lolo 3	1
113	Flintstones 2	1
113	Image Fight	1
113	Incident	1
113	Kabuki Quantum Fighter	1
113	Yoshi's Cookie	1

 

Voters

Spoiler

0xDEAFC0DE
averageoliver98
Bearcat-Doug
BortLicensePlate
CasualCart
Code Monkey
CodysGameRoom
ct
DefaultGen
Foochie776
fox
Gaia Gensouki
G-type
ifightdragons
Jaden
JeremiahJT
Khromak
MagusSmurf
mbd39
MegaMan52
nesmaster14
OptOut
peg
PII
rdrunner
Reed Rothchild
scaryice
Strikezone1
Sumez
Tulpa
twiztor
WhyNotZoidberg

 

 

 

 

...

Edited November 6, 2021 by scaryice

[scaryice | 585]

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[scaryice | 585]

I'll go first:

1. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
2. Dragon Quest III
3. Mega Man 2
4. Super Mario Bros. 3
5. Super Mario Bros. 2
6. StarTropics
7. Dragon Quest II
8. Crystalis
9. Legend of Zelda
10. Final Fantasy

Edited November 1, 2021 by scaryice

[ifightdragons | 234]

1. Mega Man 5
2. DuckTales
3. The Legend of Zelda
4. Super Mario Bros. 3
5. Castlevania
6. Project Blue (Absolutely fantastic homebrew title. Made by a VGS user whose name escapes me atm)
7. Mega Man 2 (Almost went with MM4, but the music alone in 2 just makes it a timeless classic)
8. Super Mario Bros. 2
9. R.C. Pro-Am
10. Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Grafitti

Edited November 3, 2021 by ifightdragons

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

1. The Legend of Zelda
2. Super Mario Bros 3
3. TMNT II: The Arcade Game
4. TMNT III: The Manhattan Project
5. Super Mario Bros 2
6. Kirby's Adventure
7. Maniac Mansion
8. Dragon Warrior
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
10. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

 

...That was tough. Could also change tomorrow, lol.

[twiztor | 850]

sure, why not? i stuck with one game per franchise.

1. Legend of Zelda
2. Super Mario Bros. 3
3. Metroid
4. Bomberman
5. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
6. Tecmo Super Bowl
7. Mega Man 4
8. Double Dragon
9. Contra
10. Milon's Secret Castle

[MegaMan52 | 2,443]

1.Mega Man 5

2.Super Mario Bros. 3

3.Kirby's Adventure

4.Battletoads

5.Mega Man 3

6.Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game

7.Adventures of Lolo

8.Pac-Mania

9.Pac-Land

10.Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Grafitti

[Code Monkey | 2,006]

1. Dr. Mario
2. Super Mario Bros. 3
3. Contra
4. Mr. Gimmick!
5. Ninja Gaiden
6. Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword Of Chaos
7. Super C
8. Mega Man 2
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
10. The Incident

Edited November 2, 2021 by Code Monkey

[guitarzombie | 924]

I might contribute but I think my list would de-balance the weighted rankings haha.  I know the top 3 or 4 but the rest i'd really have to think.

[Tulpa | 3,492]

1. Batman
2. Zanac
3. Gun-Nac
4. Guardian Legend
5. Legend of Zelda
6. Recca
7. Dragon Spirit: The New Legend
8. Gradius II
9. Ninja Gaiden
10. Castlevania III

I mean, I'm not a Mario/Mega Man guy, really.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

I'm assuming we can update our lists later if we change our mind? If not, don't count mine yet.

1. Super Mario Bros. 3
2. StarTropics
3. Mega Man 3
4. Legend of Zelda, The
5. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
6. Gun-Nac
7. Kirby's Adventure
8. Mega Man 2
9. Metal Storm
10. Mega Man 4

[twiztor | 850]

34 minutes ago, guitarzombie said:

I might contribute but I think my list would de-balance the weighted rankings haha.  I know the top 3 or 4 but the rest i'd really have to think.

personally, i'm all for a variety. obviously games like Mario and Zelda are going to hold some of the top places, but seeing the other picks is what's going to make it interesting.

along that note, i'm looking forward to seeing if the Mega Man votes cannibalize each other, or how that shakes out.

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

1 hour ago, Tulpa said:

2. Zanac
3. Gun-Nac

Zanac over Gun-Nac?  It's like I don't even know you. 

Edited November 1, 2021 by JamesRobot

[Tulpa | 3,492]

12 minutes ago, JamesRobot said:

Zanac over Gun-Nac?  It's like I don't even know you. 

Gun-Nac is fun, but Zanac gave me much more of a sense of accomplishment when I finally beat it.

 

I could flip them depending on my mood.

Edited November 1, 2021 by Tulpa

[BortLicensePlate | 652]

1. Tetris
2. Castlevania
3. Super Mario 3
4. Mega Man 2
5. Ninja Gaiden
6. Batman
7. Super C
8. Startropics
9. Mike Tysons Punch Out
10. Flintstones Dino peak

[BortLicensePlate | 652]

1 hour ago, twiztor said:

along that note, i'm looking forward to seeing if the Mega Man votes cannibalize each other, or how that shakes out.

It will end up being a debate of whether mega man 2 or 3 is better. 
 

definitely 2

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,073]

I don't feel really confident about a possible top 10 since I haven't been playing NES games for long and I haven't played many of the big games either. Just look at the stuff I'm clearing for the NES completions thread! Sesame Street: ABC, King's Knight, Mad Max, Last Ninja, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde etc. So I feel like my bar is pretty low and it might almost be easier for me to make a top 10 worst NES games list. Anyway, here's my attempt:

1.   Dragon Warrior/Quest III (The perfect NES RPG for me and I prefer it over any of the remakes.)
2.  Dragon Warrior/Quest IV (Short of being a perfect game, but the AI, tiny medals and casino hurt this game.)
3.  Mega Man III (So far my favorite NES Mega Man.)
4.  Zelda I (Love at second sight. I disliked this as a kid, but as an adult with more patience I can finally appreciate it.)
5.  Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II (I preferred this a bit over the first game.)
6.  Zelda II (There's some unfair stuff in this game, but still the best game of its kind on the NES, imho.)
7.   Mega Man II (Just a very fun game. I only disliked a few segments of certain levels.)
8.  Dungeon Magic (Better than one might think! Hard to get into, but very rewarding.)
9.  Faxanadu (Just a fun game that left a good impression.)
10. Final Fantasy (I don't like it as I used to, but it offers a lot of replayability and the music is awesome.)

Honorable mentions to Rad Racer, Caveman Games and Sky Shark as they are my favorite games in their respective genre. Caveman Games is the only sports game on the NES that I like so far.

Other than that I'm not 100% happy with this list since it's missing a few games, but I didn't really know where to put them. For Super Mario Bros. 1-3 I prefer the SNES versions and I thought of putting Crystalis there as well. However, I also considered which games I would be willing to play again. In that regard Crystalis fell a bit short due to a few issues. The same with James Bond Jr. since it forces you to beat the game twice with no real changes on the second run. StarTropics I was also a bit too difficult to make me want to replay it soon.

[peg | 370]

Man this is tough

1. Tetris
2. Recca
3. Super C
4. Contra
5. Gun-Nac
6. Zanac
7. Battletoads
8. Ninja Gaiden
9. Life Force
10. Final Fantasy

Edit: forgot Life Force

Edited November 1, 2021 by peg

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

1. Super Mario Bros. 3
2. Ninja Gaiden III
3. Ninja Gaiden
4. Contra
5. Super Mario Bros.
6. Castlevania III
7. Castlevania
8. Battle Kid 2
9. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out (Not a platform game, I disgust myself)
10. Gimmick

Edited November 1, 2021 by DefaultGen

[CT | 90]

1.  Contra

2.  Mega Man 2

3.  Super Mario 2

4.  Super Mario 3

5.  Tecmo Super Bowl

6.  Mr. Gimmick

7.  Punch Out

8. Excitebike

9.  Kid Icarus

10.  Super Mario 1

[AverageOliver98 | 719]

1. Kirby's Adventure
2. Mega Man 6
3. Mega Man 3
4. Mega Man 5
5. Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers
6. Super Mario Bros. 3
7. Hebereke/U-Fouria
8. Fire and Ice
9. Gimmick
10. Recca

Edited November 2, 2021 by AverageOliver98

[Tanooki | 4,932]

This is something I'd have to really think about for a bit, but I do have a question about this.

Could there have been the option for TWO lists for NES and Famicom?  I think it would spark a lot more variety and with variety, discovery.  Largely we have US/EU members here, few who have been Famicom centric over the NES so the lists will largely wash out the Japanese choices.

[mbd39 | 2,020]

1. Tetris

2. Marble Madness

3. Ninja Gaiden

4. Batman

5. Contra

6. Jackal

7. Battletoads

8. Castlevania

9. Super Mario Bros.

10. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

The true gamers too good for Mario 3 in the top 10 (jk, luv u)

[Code Monkey | 2,006]

I modified mine to add one of my favourite NES games of all time, The Incident.