Exhaustive and Definitive Ranking of All NES Games Released in North America
The article presents a comprehensive ranking and review of every Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) game released in North America, evaluating titles based on gameplay, graphics, sound, and overall impact.
Background
- The NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) was the dominant home video game console of the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s, credited with reviving the video game industry after the 1983 crash. In North America, 677 officially licensed games were released for it.
- The author runs "8 Bit Nintendo," a site dedicated to cataloging and reviewing every single NES game. This post is a comprehensive, ranked list of all 677 titles — a major undertaking that has become a minor internet tradition among retro-gaming enthusiasts.
- Ranking all NES games has been attempted by various outlets and fans over the years (e.g., Nintendo Power, IGN). The appeal lies in the NES library's unique mix of all-time classics (Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda), beloved curiosities, and notoriously terrible games that are fun to mock.
- Readers need no prior context — this is essentially a long-form opinionated listicle. The site itself is the context: a labor-of-love passion project that assumes the reader already cares about retro games and wants to see where each title lands.