Emulation Zone: NES Classics

The NES was the most popular gaming console on Earth for almost a decade, but why? The games, of course! With so many different and fun games, the NES became first choice for any gamer. Here we take a look at some of the all time classics, which set a standard to how games should be.

Super Mario Brothers Without a doubt one of the most important and influential games in gaming history. Created by Nintendo guru Shigeru Miyamoto, SMB 1 was the first plattform game with a horizontally scrolling screen. This revolutionized console gaming, and players all over the world were thrilled playing such an exciting, challening and fun game, in an attempt to rescue Princess Toadstool from the clutches of the evil Bowser Koopa.

The Legend of Zelda Also created by Shigeru Miyamoto, this is the all time classic when it comes to adventure games, and one of the most popular games ever. Although it had very primitive graphics and sound, the game was a fascinating challenge, controlling Link through the various palaces, fighting monsters and finding useful items.

Super Mario Brothers 2 The second SMB game outside Japan, was a conversion of a Japanese game called Doki Doki Panic. Nintendo Of America thought the Japanese version of SMB 2 was too much alike the first one, and so made a completely different game from Doki Doki. The original Japanese version later got released on SNES in the compilation Super Mario All Stars, under the title "The Lost Levels". Although many gamers feel SMB 2 doesn't come close to the other Mario games, it still became very popular, and therefore mentioned here.

Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link With a somewhat different gaming concept than that of Zelda 1, Zelda 2 also became extremely popular around the world, featuring new puzzles to be solved, palaces to be explored and new cities to be visited. It is a classic that should be played by everyo ne claiming to be a NES fan.

Super Mario Brothers 3 A masterpiece. The 3rd game in the most popular games series in history featured 8 varied worlds, advanced graphics (for a NES), and truly amazing gameplay. Super Mario Brothers 3 is the most sold game (on any console) in history, and will probably reign on the top of that chart for many, many years.

Final Fantasy The game that started it all, and (very possibly) the most difficult of the entire series. Are you a fan of games like FF3, FF7, or FF8? Find out how it all began with this wonderful game!

The Mega Man Games Capcom did in all make 6 Mega Man games for the NES, which all should be remembered as classics. In the role of Mega Man, a robot with a gun on his arm, the player had to defeat robots controlled by an evil doctor, getting new weapons during the quest.

Castlevania An action adventure game on a quest of defeating the evil Dracula, this Konami game got several sequels both for NES and SNES, all of them exciting platform games with a whip as the most important weapon.

Metroid An exciting and action-packed platform game, it featured different endings depending on how fast you completed the game. Great fun, and one of the first games with a woman as the main character.

Kirby's Adventure One of the last great games made for the NES, Kirby's Adventure was the only NES platform game to match Super Mario Brothers 3 in terms of gameplay and diversity. Although somewhat easy to complete, Kirby's Adventure has many exciting and surprising aspec ts, and stands out from the crowd of platform games.

Tetris A great success on all consoles it was released on, Tetris was and still is the best puzzle game out there.