The Nintendo Entertainment System's glory days ended a long time ago, but its legacy is beyond reproach. Despite running on arguably the most important console of all time, NES games tend to be overlooked in favor of SNES, Genesis, and PS1 releases. There is a reason most indie throwbacks target the 16-bit era and not its 8-bit predecessor: that generation gets way more love. Honestly, I get it, as not too many NES games stand the test of time; however, a few releases really should be played by most folks.

Why? Well, these NES games either created or popularized genres, or helped evolve the gaming industry in some form or another. While I would not necessarily say that they have all aged flawlessly, they are all still very playable, and some of them are as brilliant as they were 40 years ago.

A rare example of a NES game surpassing the arcade version, Contra holds up incredibly well, and you could even argue that it perfected the run-and-gun formula right out of the gate. Simple as it might be, the gameplay shines due to its top-notch controls, pacing, and responsiveness, all of which are timeless and will always be easy to appreciate. The 3D tunnel stages were also quite cool for the era, even if they might not be all that impressive nowadays.

Nowadays, these types of games aren't all that common, and newer releases don't typically offer anything all that much better than the classics. Hell, Konami only seems to remember that Contra exists every 5 years or so, and the quality of the post-2000s releases is all over the place.

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