Curated
Lists worth a weekend
The best of the 8-bit and 16-bit years, sorted the way people ask.
25 gamesThe 25 best NES games
The cartridges that still play as well as they did in 1990. Start at the top and work down.
25 gamesThe 25 best SNES games
The 16-bit years at their best: Mode 7, big RPGs, and the platformers everyone owned.
14 gamesThe best SNES RPGs
The golden age of the Japanese RPG, all on one console. Clear a month.
11 gamesThe hardest NES games
The ones that taught a generation patience. Every one is fair once you know it. Getting to know it is the hard part.
12 gamesThe best two-player games
Pass the second controller. NES and SNES games that are better with someone on the couch.
10 gamesJapan-only gems
Famicom and Super Famicom games that never left Japan. Most have fan translations.
7 gamesBest of the Famicom Disk System
Japan's rewritable floppy add-on, where games could save and a shop kiosk could write a new one onto your disk.
10 gamesNew to retro? Start here
Ten games that are easy to pick up, hard to put down, and show what each console did best.