NES

NES Games

The Nintendo Entertainment System launched in Japan in 1983 as the Family Computer and reached North America in 1985, reviving a home console market that had collapsed two years earlier. Its 8-bit hardware is still one of the most active homebrew development platforms today, with a community that continues to release new, freely distributable games decades after Nintendo stopped making the hardware.

Adventures of Lolo 3

HAL Laboratory, 1990

HAL Laboratory's puzzle game, the last Lolo entry released stateside. Play free in your browser.

Adventures of Lolo 2

HAL Laboratory, 1990

HAL Laboratory's 1990 NES puzzle sequel, continuing the Japanese Eggerland series. Play free in your browser.

Baseball Stars

SNK, 1989

SNK's 1989 NES baseball game, the first sports title on the console with create-a-player and battery saves. Play free in your browser.

Pac-Mania

Sculptured Software, 1990

Sculptured Software's 1990 NES port of Namco's isometric 1987 arcade original, published by Tengen. Play free in your browser.

Shatterhand

Natsume, 1991

Natsume's Dec. 1991 cybernetic-fist action game, published by Jaleco. Play free in your browser.

Rad Racer

Square, 1987

Square's 1987 racer, famous for its included 3D anaglyph glasses mode. Play free in your browser.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Koei,

Koei's NES strategy adaptation of the Chinese historical novel, commanding a warlord toward unifying the empire. Play free in your browser.

Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse

Konami, 1989

Konami's 1989 Castlevania prequel, with three swappable companions and branching paths. Play free in your browser.

Mega Man

Capcom, 1987

Capcom's Dec. 1987 series debut, introducing the boss weapon-stealing mechanic across six Robot Masters. Play free in your browser.

Blaster Master

Sunsoft, 1988

Sunsoft's Nov. 1988 run-and-gun, alternating tank exploration and on-foot platforming across a Metroid-like map. Play free in your browser.

DuckTales

Capcom, 1989

Capcom's 1989 licensed platformer, built around Scrooge McDuck's pogo-cane bounce across five non-linear stages. Play free in your browser.

Bomberman

Hudson Soft, 1985

Hudson Soft's 1989 NES release, the original maze-bombing template the whole Bomberman series is built on. Play free in your browser.

Mega Man 3

Capcom's 1990 sequel, introducing Rush, Proto Man, and the slide move. Play free in your browser.

Mega Man 4

Capcom's 1991 sequel, introducing the Mega Buster's charge shot and Dr. Cossack. Play free in your browser.

Final Fantasy

Square's 1987 RPG directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, launching one of gaming's longest-running franchises. Play free in your browser.

Dragon Warrior

Enix's 1986 RPG (Dragon Quest in Japan), credited with establishing the console RPG genre. Play free in your browser.

Gradius

Konami's 1986 NES conversion of its arcade shoot-'em-up, with a gauge-based power-up system. Play free in your browser.

Excitebike

Nintendo's 1984 motocross racer with an engine-heat gauge and built-in track editor. Play free in your browser.

Ice Climber

Nintendo's 1985 platformer starring Popo and Nana, later of Super Smash Bros. fame. Play free in your browser.

Metal Gear

Konami's 1987 stealth-action game directed by Hideo Kojima, one of the earliest stealth titles. Play free in your browser.

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest

Konami's 1987 sequel, an open exploration departure from the original's linear stages. Play free in your browser.

Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos

Tecmo's 1990 sequel continuing Ryu Hayabusa's story with expanded moveset and cutscenes. Play free in your browser.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Nintendo's 1987 sequel, a side-scrolling action-platformer departure from the original's top-down design. Play free in your browser.

Super Mario Bros

The 1985 pack-in title that helped relaunch the North American console market, and the platformer most others since have been measured against. Play free in your browser.

Duck Hunt

The 1984 NES Zapper showcase where you shoot ducks out of the sky while a dog judges your aim. Play free in your browser.

Kid Icarus

The 1986 Greek-mythology action platformer starring the angel Pit, from the same team behind Metroid. Play free in your browser.

Double Dragon

The 1988 NES port of the arcade beat-'em-up that helped define the genre, with an added competitive Duel mode. Play free in your browser.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Konami's notoriously difficult 1989 NES beat-'em-up starring all four Turtles. Play free in your browser.

Metroid

Introduction Metroid was developed by Nintendo R&D1 under producer Gunpei Yokoi, first released for the Famicom Disk System in Japan in August 1986 before arriving on cartridge for the NES in North America the following year. The team set out to blend Super Mario Bros’s side-scrolling action with The Legend of Zelda’s open, non-linear exploration, […]

Mega Man 2

Introduction Mega Man 2 was developed and published by Capcom for the NES in 1988, directed by Akira Kitamura and produced by Tokuro Fujiwara, with Keiji Inafune stepping up from artist on the first game into a more central production role alongside fellow artists Yasuaki Kishimoto and Naoya Tomita and composer Takashi Tateishi. The sequel […]

Contra

Introduction Contra started out as a coin-operated arcade game from Konami released in February 1987, before the studio built its own home conversion for the NES that arrived in Japan and North America in early 1988, alongside a separate set of European computer ports handled by other studios under region-specific names. Set against a near-future […]

Castlevania

Introduction Castlevania was developed and published by Konami, first released on the Famicom Disk System in Japan in September 1986 before reaching the NES on cartridge the following year, alongside a same-premise MSX2 sibling title called Vampire Killer that shipped with different level design around the same time. Character designer Akihiko Nagata built the game […]

Kirby’s Adventure

Introduction Kirby’s Adventure was developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the NES in 1993, directed and designed once again by Masahiro Sakurai with lead programming by Hiroaki Suga and production input from Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Takao Shimizu. Sakurai had originally been asked simply to port the Game Boy original, Kirby’s […]

Punch-Out!!

Introduction Punch-Out!! was developed by Nintendo R&D3 under director Genyo Takeda, with character designs from Shigeru Miyamoto and production by Minoru Arakawa, adapting Nintendo’s arcade boxing series for the NES. Nintendo first released a Mike Tyson-free gold cartridge in Japan in September 1987, initially given out as a tournament prize, before the more famous Western […]

Battletoads

Introduction Battletoads was developed by Rare and published by Tradewest, designed by Tim and Chris Stamper with a soundtrack by David Wise, and built with the explicit goal of giving Rare its own answer to the era’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles craze. It released on the NES in North America and Japan in June 1991, […]

Ninja Gaiden

Introduction Ninja Gaiden was developed and published by Tecmo for the NES, directed by Hideo Yoshizawa with art by Masato Kato, released in Japan in December 1988 and in North America the following March. It ran in parallel with an unrelated arcade beat ’em up of the same name built by a different team, sharing […]

The Legend of Zelda

Introduction The Legend of Zelda was developed by Nintendo R&D4, directed and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto with Takashi Tezuka as story writer, and built alongside Super Mario Bros as a launch title for the Family Computer Disk System, released in Japan in February 1986 before reaching the NES on cartridge in North America and Europe […]

Super Mario Bros. 3

Introduction Super Mario Bros. 3 was developed by Nintendo EAD under director Shigeru Miyamoto and lead designer Takashi Tezuka, with development beginning right after 1986’s Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels and running roughly two and a half years before its Japanese release in October 1988; North America had to wait until February 1990. Miyamoto […]