What are the 8-bit Nintendo games to play today? This critic plays all 751 to find out
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As It Happened7:06What are the 8-bit Nintendo games to play today? This critic plays all 751 to find out
If you’re old enough to have played video games on the Nintendo Entertainment System, you probably remember some of its most popular games: Super Mario Bros., Tetris again Duck HuntFor example.
But those are just a few of the hundreds of titles released in the 1980s and 1990s—751, to be exact. And Jeff Gerstmann is about to finish playing and rank them all, from best to worst.
“I like a big, dumb, really long challenge,” says the longtime sports reporter and broadcaster As It Happened hosted by Nil Köksal. “I didn’t think it would take three years, but here we are.”
Every Friday since August 2023, Gerstmann has played a few NES games on the live streaming site Twitch, then added them to a ranked list. Rather than trying to complete every game in full, he plays one game for about half an hour to an hour to get a fair idea before moving on to the next.
He says he got the idea for the project after seeing a lot of videos and articles online about the best or worst games on the show starting to look suspiciously similar to each other.
“There are a lot of opinions about these games and I got the impression that many people were just giving out other people’s opinions before they even played the games,” he said.
“It sent me down this road like … somebody needs to go back and look at the work of all these other people.”
What are the best games?
Gerstmann, based in California, is one of the country’s top video game media executives. He has covered games for nearly 30 years, including for GameSpot and as a local contributor to Giant Bomb. He currently broadcasts his podcast live and game streams, supported by fans on the crowdfunding site Patreon.
He says he was about 10 or 11 when the NES was released; he first laid his hands on it as a Christmas present in 1986. Now, he’s been playing games to determine which titles from that era are still worth playing today.
“It was nice to get closer to these games a little bit more than you did when you were 12 years old,” he said.
Gerstmann currently has the original Super Mario Bros. in No. 3. He says it’s one of his favorites, even though “technically, it ends up being a bit outdated even in its time.”
Mega Man 2 you stay at the top of the list; is the second game made by Capcom that features a blue robot boy with a cannon on his arm that can absorb the energy of the defeated enemy.
“Mega Man 2 it’s everything you wanted Mega Man 1 so that’s it,” said Gerstmann. “The music is amazing, the game looks, the art and the designs of these fighting robots. [are] just too much.”
Currently, Duck Hunt – one of Köksal’s childhood favorites, which also came packed with many NES consoles – sits near the top of the pack at No. 364.
Gerstmann says that an example of earlier games like the short experience is more common in the arcade, before games like Super Mario Bros. hours of gameplay are provided to justify the high price tags.
“I think it’s the best morning game on the platform. But … you can see everything Duck Hunt it will give you about 10 minutes.”
What games are ‘bottom of the barrel’?
The bottom of the list, on the other hand, is home to some “sad” and “incredibly poorly done” titles, according to Gerstmann.
“Nintendo has tried to keep a firm hand on what games they allow on their platform. But since the console has become so popular, you’ve had companies bypass that and release unauthorized video games that Nintendo had nothing to do with,” he said.
It features a number of adult-oriented casino games featuring nude women that no one should be looking for or spending time playing for themselves.
As of this week, there’s only one game left to be played and ranked, and it’s weird: Super Mario Bros. 3often cited as one of the best, if not the best NES game of all time.
“We’ll see where that one ends up [on the list]and I’m a little afraid because it’s likely to cause a big conflict,” he said.
That fear won’t stop Gerstmann from continuing into the trenches of sports history. After completing his definitive list for the NES level, he plans to do the same thing for another classic console.
