30 Years Of Classic Gaming: Asif's Favorite NES Games

The Nintendo Entertainment System celebrated a milestone anniversary on Sunday, marking three decades since its debut in North America. For many, this is where their love of video games emanated from. The 8-bit era of games is one that remains close to many people's hearts today, whether it's the jolly retro gamer or an independent game developer taking elements of their childhood and modernizing them for a new generation of gamer. This week, members of the Shacknews staff will be taking a look at a handful of our NES favorites, what made them so great, and why they still strike a chord with us to this day.

My first memory of the Nintendo Entertainment System is seeing the Legend of Zelda at my friend's house. I knew right then and there that I had to have that gold cartridge. I spent all of my waking hours for weeks and weeks begging my parents to get my brothers and I an NES. We ultimately got the NES bundle with R.O.B. and Gyromite. The NES spoke to me in a way that our previous consoles (Atari and Colecovision) had not. The vast array of magical experiences that came from the NES captured my imagination like nothing before. I have been enchanted by video games ever since.

I have a great fondness for Nintendo's games, so I will skip the obvious first party titles (Punch Out, Mario, Zelda, etc) that the rest of the staff has previously mentioned. What strikes me as truly amazing about the NES is how many genre-defining titles there were. Games like Arch Rivals, Base Wars, Blades of Steel, Super Dodgeball, Tecmo Bowl and Tecmo Super Bowl set the groundwork for all the great sports titles to come. Rush N Attack, Commando, Ikari Warriors, and Contra were all shooters that captured my attention for years. Blaster Master, Castlevania, Deadly Towers, Bayou Billy, and Rygar were all amazing adventure games. RC Pro AM, Rad Racer, Mach Rider, and Excite Bike all paved the way for racing games going forward. Bart vs. the Space Mutants, T&C Surf Designs, Skate or Die, and Adventure Island were the first games to truly let us skateboard on a console. Marble Madness, Adventures of Lolo, and Tetris were yet another group of games that defined how puzzle games would evolve for the next 30 years.

The NES catalogue of games was so vast that I remember having to trade games with friends just to experience all the awesome titles. The genius of the NES was the power of the system coupled with the beautiful simplicity of the controller. Granted, there was the NES Advantage, the Power Glove, the Power Pad, Game Genie, and all sorts of other peripherals, but the NES experience out of the box truly gave the arcade a run for its money.

The NES was a cash cow for Nintendo. It sold over 61 million units globally and over 500 million pieces of software. That propelled it to be the dominant player in the games industry for most of the 80s and it revitalized an industry that people had written off as doomed just a few years prior. Nintendo took a chance on a home console in the face of the video game crash of 1983, and it paid massive dividends. This sense of timing and risk taking is still deeply engrained in the company's DNA and we can only hope that the upcoming NX system will show us that Nintendo is still playing with power.

Asif Khan

CEO/EIC/EIEIO

Asif Khan is the CEO, EIC, and majority shareholder of Shacknews. He began his career in video game journalism as a freelancer in 2001 for Tendobox.com. Asif is a CPA and was formerly an investment adviser representative. After much success in his own personal investments, he retired from his day job in financial services and is currently focused on new private investments. His favorite PC game of all time is Duke Nukem 3D, and he is an unapologetic fan of most things Nintendo. Asif first frequented the Shack when it was sCary's Shugashack to find all things Quake. When he is not immersed in investments or gaming he is a purveyor of fine electronic music. Asif also has an irrational love of Cleveland sports.