 About six months ago, I decided to go on a little adventure. It's a path that should be familiar, but unfortunately, completely passed me by. As a kid growing up in the UK, I had access to the ZX Spectrum, the Commodore 64, the MSX, the Commodore 16, and personally owned an Amstrad CPC. I can't personally speak for anybody else, but I didn't know anybody that owned an NES. Until this happened. The Power Glove from Nintendo, and a movie starring Fred Savage called The Wizard. Although the sales of the NES didn't match those of Japan or North America in the UK, there was still a decent user base that grew around or after this film, and it probably saved Nintendo from its non-existing marketing strategy in the UK and Europe. So starting with Batman, I want to kick off my favorite personal top 25 NES games of all time. The thing that always sticks out for me with NES games are the excellent, well-animated, and fantastic detailed sprites. Although this game isn't perfect, it's brilliant for a movie-to-console adaptation. And if the amazing cutscenes don't fire up the old nostalgia, the wonderful but difficult gameplay will. Holy cow, Batman, a great game. Which leads me nicely onto this next one, Battle Toads. The sprites are superbly detailed, the animation is fast, and it's lovely little details like that where the main sprite is absolutely petrified. And so it should be because this game will hand you your ass over and over. Everything is absolutely hilarious about this game. The comedy value is front and center. Music and sound matches the graphical quality, but it's the gameplay that really kicks you in the sack. How could I leave this absolute beauty of a game outside of a top 25 list? Stick to the script, do exactly what the game tells you to do, and the rewards feel refreshingly endless. You can instantly tell and see that the graphics are from the same stable of RC Pro-AM. If there is to be a downside of this game, it's that there's only eight levels, but the real injustice is that they never revisited this game. For me, this is a high quality title, and I don't think or can remember playing anything quite like it. Unlike the gimmicky, unresponsive power glove, Duck Hunt uses the trusty and highly accurate zapper. It's time to take your dog out for the hunt, kill those ducks, take them home, and treat you and your wife to honey and orange glazed duck breast. To fully and properly enjoy this, you really need to have a CRT monitor. Luckily, I still do, and the kids absolutely love this game, and that's the true testament, and just one of the many reasons why this makes the list. I'm a massive Excitebike fan. I even loved the N64 version, Excitebike 64. I can't get enough of this game, and I can't get enough of the N64 version as well. I feel like Nintendo have forgotten about this lost treasure. What the world truly needs is Excitebike for the 21st century on the Nintendo Switch console. Until that happens, I've got this and the excellent N64 version to play. I still can't get used to the fact that this game is known outside of Europe as Gradius. I grew up knowing it as Nemesis, but I think Gradius is the name of the home world, so it'd be a bit weird when they call it a home world Nemesis. It's a shame that only one player can play at a time, but what saves this is the sheer amount and variety of enemies and those big massive end of level bad boys. Also, in the arcade game, players could carry up to four options, but due to the technical limits of the NES, here they can only have two. Do-do-do-do-do-do. Do-do-do-do-do. Do-do-do-do-do. Do-do-do-do-do. I had no idea this game existed until about six months ago, and whilst I appreciate it, it might not be everybody's cup of tea. The gameplay is great, the graphics was around really nicely, the animation is smooth, I love the scrolling, the fisticuffs are great, with lovely little intermission screens. Probably the only criticism, if there has to be, maybe the music, it's probably not that authentic outside of the title screen. Man, I've played this on probably every system outside of the arcade. I had it on the Amstrad CPC, I've played it on the ZX Spectrum, the 16-bit Atari ST and Amiga, but this version for an 8-bit is absolutely unbelievable. It's bloody annoying that Super Sprint never came out on the NES, but thank goodness this is available because it more than makes up for it. It's also a great two player game as well, and although I've heard some people criticise it for being slower than the coinup, at my age, I quite enjoy the slower pace. Jackie Chan's action Kung Fu might be the worst name for a game ever, but this is anything but a bad game. I've played the TurboGrafx 16 version as well, and whilst it adds more, and it looks better, sadly they went overboard with the difficulty level and ruined the game in my humble opinion. For my skill set, the difficulty level is pitched just right, and although I can still finish this in less than a day, it's definitely one I'd love to come back to. Everything for me looks and plays absolutely amazing, and the graphics look fantastic. One of the best arcade games ever had a sequel called Track and Field 2, and it's one hell of a button masher. It's the summer, it's warm, and you're playing in the Olympic Games. You've got the horizontal bar, hurdles, archery, canoeing, hammer throwing, twi-kwondo, pole vaulting, skeet shooting, diving, swimming, fencing, and my favourite, the triple jump. The two player option escalates this beyond the norm. This is another game where in the UK or Europe, it was known as salamander, not life force. I don't get it. What I do get is that it's flipping brilliant. A true masterpiece of a horizontal shoot-em-up. Interestingly, this game features in 1001 video games you must play before you die. A book written by Tony Mott, chief and editor of Edge Magazine, but this seriously ranks amongst the elite of NES games. Does anybody remember playing with their marbles? I remember at school we played Marble Toss and Marble Match. I think we even played marbles on drain covers. Well, this one is more than just a trip down memory drain. It's just as much fun today as it was back in the day. It might come across difficult when you first play it, but it's one of those games if you stick with it, you'll quickly realise it's worth a roll. It's fun to play with a friend, and it's an excellent arcade conversion to the NES. I just wish there was more. It's amazing to think that Mega Man 2 almost never happened. The original game wasn't the success story they hoped for, so game creator Keiji Inifune had to work on it in secret, and on his own time. Mega Man's creator considers Mega Man 2 to be his favourite Mega Man game ever. Although it doesn't sound like a lot today, Mega Man 2 sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. If you're new to the NES, hunt this one down, you won't be disappointed. When Mike Tyson wasn't busy biting ears off or kicking promoter Don King in the head, he was not only the baddest man on the planet, but he was the baddest man in video games. You start out your boxing career as a nobody and work your way slowly up the ranks. If you're hard enough, you get to face the man in the myth, the legend himself, Mike Tyson. In between bouts, little Matt Jogs are the city of New York with his trainer, Doc Lewis. Although the scene is harmless, it later became an internet sensation. This is a must-have for any NES fans, even those new to the scene. Developed whilst on holiday in New Zealand, this is not only one of the best games of the 1980s, it's also one of best arcade conversions to the NES. There's so much to discover in this game, including all sorts, all manners of weapons. Vehicles and even hidden levels. Despite the cuteness and high tempo music, it's probably the most fun you could have on an NES console. Whilst adults will enjoy this arcade romp, it is especially geared towards younger players and one to let your kids loose on. The excellent team behind Solar Jetman and Snake Rattle and Roll bring this Williams arcade pinball machine to life on the NES. The overall result is that rare have given NES owners the closest thing to a pinball table on a home console. The graphics might not look amazing, but the ball movement and speed of the thing are highly convincing. The flippers respond perfectly, there's no lag, and although not a patch on pinball dreams on the Commodore Amiga, it's still a dream to play. The NES seemed to struggle when it came to decent racing games. The back catalog was poultry to say the least. It's a shame that NES owners didn't get OutRun and Turbo OutRun and OutRun Europa. In fact, maybe that's a blessing in disguise, but what they did get is RadRacer. What you get is eight different stages and it's a complete race to the finish line. There's the option to use 3D glasses and although I've never experienced it, it must have looked amazing with all those changing weather effects and fast pseudo 3D action. Gulligan, I'll be back. Only in a rerun! Yeah, sorry about that, but this game, the theme of this game has to be based on The Running Man. Yes, I know it's based on Robotron originally, but it features all the slaughter and over-the-top shenanigans of the movie. The advertisement that came with this game was absolutely over-the-top, but what it did reveal is that you can play this game with two controllers, but more importantly, it included a fantastic two-player mode. This really is the game show for your NES. Another game to feature in the book, 1,001 video games to play before you die. It doesn't surprise me as this is one of the most original concepts I've ever played. The gameplay just overflows oozes with quality. The comedy value comes from its relentless toilet humor. I'm not gonna lie, I absolutely love this game. It looks amazing, it scrolls great, it sounds amazing, but even better, it's wonderfully playable. So, Legget Man on the NES is simply one of the best games I've played. It's a mix and reminds me of Oids on the Atari ST and Thrust on the Amstrad CPC. It's an absolute fantastic game from Rare, another one, in fact. But seriously, have we not learned to expect anything but the best from Rare? This really is a tremendous evolution of the original ZX Spectrum version. And the great thing as well about this game is there's a password option as well. So you'll never have to revisit or go over the same old ground. I've heard so many complaints about how difficult this game is on the NES. Anybody who thinks that, go play The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi on the Super Nintendo. Better still, go and play Super Golden Ghost. Now, that's difficult. Now, silly talk aside, this is an absolute fantastic game for the NES. The graphics are brilliant and presentation feel almost eight-bit Oscar-nominating worthy. One of my favorite games on the NES and one I still come back to to this day. Now, I've heard that Famicom version is the one to pick up, but as I've never played it or experienced it, say no more. For me, it's an absolute classic, a stunner of a game. Is it the best shooter map on the NES? I couldn't tell you. All I do know is there's some staggering power-ups and it's really fast. But more importantly, it's bags of fun. But it's the two-player option that steals the show and is the icing on the cake. I remember this one when it was first released. It came with a shiny gold-plated cartridge. I sold it for a pretty penny about six or seven years ago. Shigeru Miyamoto, I nearly swallowed my teeth saying that, is not only probably the best game designer of all time, he's kept the franchise alive until now and the innovation involved in his games is just unbelievable. But what's really special about this game is it was the first ever game on the NES to feature a battery pack save game feature and it sold over eight million units. I can't be 100% sure, but I think Wrecking Crew was a launch title for the NES. Again, I'm late to this game, but it's an absolute joy to play. It's really addictive. Features Mario and Luigi. It's got plenty of levels to keep you going. The graphics are fantastic and the sound and music is suitably Mario and Luigi. The only thing I can add is that it's a solid game and I refuse to ever stop playing it. This is the big one, Super Mario Bros. 3. And to top things off, this is another game that was voted in 1001 video games to play before you die. It was also the main feature game of the film, The Wizard, which you eventually got to play. Anyone remember The Warp Whistle? Also, there's a world record for this game where it's been completed in just under 11 minutes, 10 minutes 48 to be precise and as a testament to how good this game is, over 30 million copies worldwide were sold. Well, I hope you enjoyed the show. Please like, subscribe and ring that bell and until next time, bye.