LFG Presents: Part 2 of 2 “Top 20 Nintendo Console Games Of All Time” (By Hiro)

10. Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past (SNES)

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is an action adventure video game developed and published by Nintendo for the SNES, and is the third installment in The Legend Of Zelda Series.

A Link to the Past is the first appearance of what would subsequently become a major Zelda trademark: the existence of two parallel worlds between which the player travels. The first, called the Light World, is the ordinary Hyrule where Link grew up with his uncle. The second is what was once the Sacred Realm, but became the Dark World when Ganon acquired the Triforce.

A Link to the Past uses a top-down perspective similar to that of the original Legend Of Zelda, instead of the side-scrolling format that Zelda 2: The Adventure Of Link uses.

My greatest memory: My first job was a camp counselor during the summer. One day at the pool I noticed a couple of older kids who worked there playing this game behind the desk on a small TV. It drew a lot of attention from them so I knew it was a game I had to had. This is the Zelda game that got me into Zelda thereafter.

Rating: 9.5 Earth Shattering

9. Metroid (NES)

Metroid is the firstgame in the Metroid Series of video games.

Metroid provided one of the first highly ninlinear game experiences on a home console. The basic gameplay is a mix of action adventure and platform shooter. The player controls Samus Aran across sprite-rendered two dimensional landscapes, starting with only a weak blaster shot and jumping ability, preventing progress to certain areas of the game world.

My greatest memory: This is one of the few games I remember opening up on Christmas. After opening it, I gave my parents a big hug and then headed straight over to my NES to play it, even though I knew I had more presents to open.

Rating: 9.6 Earth Shattering

8. Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube version)

Resident Evil 4 is a third person shooter developed by Capcom for the Nintendo Gamecube.

The fourth installment of Capcom’s pivotal “Survival Horror” series continues on Nintendo GameCube and PS2. The title takes place in 2004 some six years after the events that transpired in Resident Evil 2. The government has destroyed the Umbrella Corporation, which has been behind just about every plot and disgusting bio-chemical mutation in the survival horror series. Now-US agent Leon Kennedy (of Resident Evil 2 fame) has been dispatched to Europe to save the President’s daughter from “crazed organizations.” RE4 boasts some of the most impressive visuals to date on Nintendo’s next generation console, and takes the series into the realm of truly three-dimensional gameplay. Stagnant environments found in previous Resident Evil games are replaced by detailed 3D surroundings complete with dynamic camera work.

My greatest memory: Playing RE4 every single day with my sisters boyfriend for about a week once it came out. We would take turns after each checkpoint reached. We must have played mercenaries a thousand times as well.

Rating: 9.7 Masterpiece

7. Final Fantasy (NES)

Final Fantasy is a console role-playing game developed and published in Japan by Square Soft (now Square Enix).

The story begins with the appearance of the four youths called the “Light Warriors”, who each carry one of their world’s elemental orbs, which have been darkened by four Elemental friends. Together, they quest to defeat these evil forces and restore light to the orbs, thus saving the world.

Final Fantasy was one of the most influential and successful role-playing games on the NES, and played a major role in popularizing the genre after Dragon Quest.

My greatest memory: Digging through a crate full of NES games given to me by a family friend. This was one of the first games I played after rounding all of them up.

Rating: 9.7 Masterpiece

6. Contra (NES)

Contra is a run and gun video game created by Konami.

The Contra series essentially defined the run and gun computer and video game genre. The games, which are a combination of platform and shoot’ em up, consist of a player-controlled human protagonist who employs rapid-fire rifles to destroy enemies. While there is more emphasis put on shooting than jumping, the player must be able to use jump to gain the right angle to destroy certain enemies and avoid getting shot. Avoidance is essential, as it only takes one hit to kill the player.

My greatest memory: Breaking one of my NES controllers after struggling on a level which now seemed like an eternity. My next try I beat it, though.

Rating: 9.8 Masterpiece

5. Goldeneye 007 (N64)

GoldenEye 007 is a 1997 first person shooter video game developed by Rare for the N64, and based on the 1995 James Bond film Goldeneye.

You are Bond, James Bond. Your mission is to recover the key to a devastating Soviet orbital weapon, GoldenEye. Fight your way through 18 action-packed missions, using a host of Bond-esque weaponry and gadgets. Along the way you’ll have to escape from a bunker that’s about to be vaporized by the GoldenEye satellite as well as crash through the streets in a tank. GoldenEye 007 also supports four-player multiplayer with a host of options and game modes.

My greatest memory: Playing in after school round robin tournaments with my friends. Then pulling all nighters with them on the weekends. At one point, this was the only game we all played for at least two months, it was that good.

Rating: 9.8 Masterpiece

4. Super Mario Bros. 3 (SNES)

Super Mario Bros. 3 developed by Nintendo is the 5th release in the Super Mario video game series.

One of the most respected games in Nintendo’s Mario Bros. series, Super Mario Bros. 3 introduced new moves and abilities to the tried-and-true sidescrolling platformer franchise. After the vastly different gameplay of Super Mario Bros. 2 (which was based on the Japanese Doki Doki Panic), the third game in the series gets rid of Mario’s turnip-pulling abilities and replaces them with new feats like flying via the raccoon suit, and hammer throwing with the Hammer Bros. suit. The idea is once again to thwart Bowser’s evil plans and battle your way across eight different themed worlds to win a kiss from the Princess.

My greatest memory: I have lots of memories playing this game as a child, but my most fondest memory would be the day I tried to beat the game five times in one day. I’m not sure where the idea stemmed from, but I did not accomplish it. I think I only beat it twice that day.

Rating: 9.9 Masterpiece

3. Super Mario 64 (N64)

Super Mario 64 is a platform game developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64.

Designer Shigeru Miyamoto’s Mario sequel is considered by many to be one of the greatest videogames of all time. The title successfully proved that the famously polished, tried-and-true 2D play mechanics of the Super Mario Bros. series could be translated to 3D and, indeed, even in some cases improved upon. It also simultaneously helped define 3D gaming as a whole and pushed Nintendo’s plumber mascot even further into the spotlight as one of the most recognizable figures in the games industry. Mario explores Princess Peach’s castle and hunts for stars in a variety of differently themed stages. The platformer remains, even by today’s harsh standards, a true masterpiece.

My greatest memory: This was the first N64 I ever played, and still to this day I was never more in awe than the day I played this game. From the graphics and world I was able to explore. I was in love.

Rating: 9.9 Masterpiece

2. Super Mario Bros. (NES)

Super Mario Bros. is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo.

Super Mario Bros. is the pinnacle of pure, unblemished gaming. The 2D platformer, designed by Nintendo’s legendary figurehead Shigeru Miyamoto, still remains in our minds the most intuitive and addictive entry in the genre. The title stars “Jump Man” himself, Mario, along with his brother Luigi, and takes players through more than 30 colorful levels of varied theme and design, all of them packed with cute, stylized enemies like the goombas and a wide array of platforms and obstacles. Super Mario Bros. is the first major showpiece for Nintendo’s heightened quality of gaming: full of depth, layered with tight control and remarkably clever level creation that spills with secrets and extras.

My greatest memory: Watching my dad beat the final level on his last life. It was intense. This was before I was ever able to beat the game, so it was a big deal to me.

Rating: 10 Untouchable

1. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time (N64)

The Legend Of Zelda OOT is an action adventure game developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo for the N64.

Nintendo’s highly acclaimed adventure brings the classic series into the third dimension. After a nightmare involving a certain young princess and the evil thief Ganondorf, series hero Link wakes up in his home village tucked away behind the mysterious Lost Woods. The only Kokiri without a fairy, Link soon meets up with his new traveling companion, the winged Navi, and sets out on the adventure of his life. The quest, which inevitably turns into a rescue mission for Princess Zelda, leads players through dark dungeons, picturesque villages, into the heart of a volcano, to the bottom of a lake, through a haunted desert, deep into a magical forest, into a giant tree, the belly of a beast, and even through time.

My greatest memory: I got this game as a gift for my birthday. I was not expecting it and actually had the game on pre-order. I can’t think of another time in my life I was as happy for a birthday present.

Rating: 10 Untouchable

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