This heralded a really brave change in direction for the series from Nintendo, acting like a hybrid of the first game and Metroid, it took a top down view for the traveling sections in the over world, and a side scrolling platformer view during the action sections. In hindsight the game probably didn't get as much credit as it deserved as its inspiration can be seen in many other games which came afterwards, such as Gargoyles Quest for instance.

A really accessible and fun strategy game that's not too complicated. The aim is to move your soldiers around to take strategic areas which over time send you more soldiers as reinforcements, and whenever you come into contact with an enemy a real time battle starts. The game is fantastically addictive and really starts to shine when played with two players.

A sadly underrated classic for the NES. Little Samson is an amalgamation of every good platformer around from the era, the game play is finely crafted and includes not only all the hallmarks of the genre, but has many commendable aspects of its own. You can change between four different characters each with very different abilities, some can climb up and hang onto walls, some can shoot, one of them lays bombs and another can fly, the levels have alternate paths, the graphics are some of the best out there and the boss battles are all not only exciting and clever, but also very impressive for an 8-bit system.

A fantastic 3D platformer which contains an extremely well realized world to explore and has a heavy emphasis on puzzle solving. Its certainly heavily influenced by many of the earlier games by Rareware/Ultimate, and Bernie Drummond, but nevertheless contains many unique aspects of its own, not the easiest game for newcomers, check my tips section here to help you get started.

Classic cartoony boxing game with a really nice caricatured design for all the boxers. The game play is very reaction based with you dodging, jabbing and making sure you don't over exert yourself. Generally just an addictive game that's a lot of fun really.

Crystalis is probably my favourite action RPG on the NES, its a very colourful, playable, slick and fast paced game, the graphics and sound are excellent and the storyline is actually pretty elaborate and in depth for an 8-bit NES game.

The sequel to one of the first weapons and upgrades based racing games (a game which itself inspired later games such as Mario Kart). Its basically a racing game played at an isometric view, with items such as oil slicks and rockets to mess with your opponents. Apart from the improved graphics and handling the important addition here in the sequel is the new option to play 4-player with a multi-tap.

I've decided to go with this as the best of the Gradius styled games on NES, mainly because of its well judged difficulty curve, interesting biological atmosphere, variety of its level designs (featuring both upwards and sideways scrolling levels) and most importantly an excellent 2-player co-op.

Originally a massive hit on the C64, Maniac Mansion was a point and click adventure with loads of humour and charm. It was ported very well to the NES but is unfortunately a little bit censored. It does still contain much of what made the game so great in the first place though.

Ninja Gaiden II Stays pretty similar to the original game, but has better graphics (with some very impressive graphical effects) more power-ups many of which were unique and inventive (such as the excellent clone power-up which creates multiple versions of yourself fighting behind you) a good difficulty curve and general improvements with the level designs.