Eight Incredibly Addictive NES Games

I would imagine that video games are quite addicting today.  I mean I’m sure of it.  I have an eight-year-old nephew who is insane with his Wii.  But is it the game kind of addiction we had back in the day with NES?  I wonder.

Granted today’s games look cooler but do they have the same “replayability” as they did back then?  I guess that’s for the new gamers to discuss.  All I know is that this old school gamer loved the NES.

And here are eight games I couldn’t get enough of…..

Tecmo Bowl


NES never had Madden, so instead we played one of the greatest football games in history, Tecmo Bowl. Featuring addictive, 2-D gameplay.  Also I’ve got two words for you:  Bo Jackson.  Enough said.

Contra

Oh come on people.  You know the cheer!  Up down up down left right left right BA select start! Action games continue to look more realistic, but most of them lack Contra’s addictive pull. Konami’s frenetic blast fest is still great, as Bill and Lance battle the evil Red Falcon across varied terrain.

Mike Tyson’s Punchout


Nintendo’s addictive punch-fest casts us as an unknown runt, Little Mac, as he squares off against some of the most dangerous hombres to ever put on the gloves. Glass Joe is a pushover, but the guys after him (King Hippo, Great Tiger, Super Macho Man) give us issues. Of course, the biggest challenge comes from Mike Tyson (Mr. Dream in the following edition), who unceremoniously pounds us into a bloody paste.  But even after you master Iron Mike you still love to play the game.

Excitebike


Most games with vehicles, from Grand Theft Auto IV to Project Gotham Racing 4, include motorcycles, and while they allow us to perform all types of extreme stunts, we still come back to Excitebike. Simple and addictive, we enjoy speeding along its tracks and cutting off our opponents

Super Mario Brothers


Beating Super Mario Bros. was a monumental achievement, at least during the ’80s.  But it wasn’t just beating the game.  It was after you beat the game, figuring out how you could beat it faster, get more points, find out more secrets.   I mean how many games do you continue playing after you’ve mastered them?

Double Dragon 2


Double Dragon 2 surpassed the original, with new moves like the hurricane kick and a stellar soundtrack.  Not to mention the intro shows a woman getting punched in the stomach.  I mean come on.  If that’s not motivation to go save her I don’t know what is.  I love those giant green muscle dudes.

Duck Hunt


Man I can actually hear the music right now can’t you?

Tetris


Best part about this game is that it never really ends.  I mean what’s the limit here?  Has anyone ever gotten 500 lines on the Nintendo version?

*Shout outs to Rad Racer, Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros III, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ice Hockey and about 50 others

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17 Comments

  1. Ahh Excitebike, I was wondering what it was called, the game that I played when I was like 5 years old, fun game it was. I remember my mum been totally addicted to Super Mario Brothers when I was 5 as well, she would play it constantly >> and shes not the type to play video games (hasn’t played any for years now). Damn woman destroyed my NES with her food when I didn’t want to follow her orders yet she bought a new one later on >>.

    Does anyone remember the title of a game that I remembered playing ages ago as well, it was where a person rode a horse and had to jump over obstacles, you couldn’t stop etc.

  2. I think I fall a bit short of your generation as I was more of a PS1 kid but I’m still addicted to Tetris and Duck Hunt I just happen to get copies for both from an older brother when I was at a young age.

    I cant decide which is more addictive though. I spent a lot of time on mario. duck hunt and tetris but at the same time Left for dead and oblivion and other addictive titles still keep me up way too late.

    I think the 80’s/90’s games might win but only just…purely because every game back then was addictive as opposed to just a few today.

  3. The three original Super Mario Bros games are all great.

    I actually have been playing SMB 1 and 2 and Bubble Bobble lately. SMB 1 few hours ago in fact.

    The youngsters can keep their fancy Genesises and Super NESes. NES is where it’s at. :B

  4. My mom was addicted to SMB as well. She would play the game 3 times in a row. Like when she’d win the game and save the princess (without using warp zones I might add) the game would reset with harder enemies, and she’d play again. And again lol. However, that was also for her the ONLY time she played videogames.

    On the other hand, now she s always in front of her laptop playing cafe-world on facebook.

    As for me, these games are all classic but there’s some not on this list that I ranked up a lot of hours on:

    1. Dragon Spirit
    2. Dynowars
    3-5. Ninja Gaiden (trilogy)
    6. Super Sprint (my brother and I played to level 100 just to see if the game ends. It doesn’t)
    7. Rampage – again, wanted to see if the game ends. And it does, after about 120 something levels. Oh and did i mention that the first time the Nintendo froze on us around level 108 and we’d been playing for like 4 hours straight? It was about 11:30 when the game froze on us, and we were not allowed to stay up that late back then.
    8.RC Pro-Am
    9. Captain Skyhawk
    10. Kirby’s Adventure
    11. Dr. Mario – Tetris rip-off sure, but it’s got MARIO!!
    12. Mario 2

  5. I always found Tecmo Super Bowl to be more fun than the original. Mostly because you had ALL the NFL teams rather than the truncated, city-name only teams from the original.

    Likewise, I preferred Blades of Steel to Ice Hockey. Yes, because of the fights.

  6. @Steve You had to mention RC Pro-AM. God, no game pissed me off as a kid more than RC Pro-AM. Hated that game with a passion.

    And Ninja Gaiden….that will forever be one of my all time favorites. It is also the bane of my existence. Would have never finished that game with the help from an NES emulator. Freakin’ love me some save states.

  7. Up, Up, Down, Down nattyb, not Up, Down, Up, Down on the Contra code

    Also, the girl getting punched in the stomach was definitely Double Dragon 1, not 2

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