Let’s be real for a second. If you look at any standard NES video games list, you’re going to see the same ten heavy hitters. Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid—we get it. They're masterpieces. But the gray-cartridge library for the Nintendo Entertainment System is a massive, chaotic mess of over 700 officially licensed titles in North America alone. It's a mix of genuine art, rushed movie tie-ins, and literal "shovelware" that makes the modern App Store look like a curated museum.
The NES didn't just save the industry in 1985; it created a Wild West where developers were still trying to figure out what a "video game" even was. You've got games like Taboo: The Sixth Sense, which is basically just a digital tarot card reader that tells you you're going to have a bad day. Then there are titles like Stadium Events, which is famous only because it's rare, not because anyone actually wants to run on a plastic mat for three hours. If you're building a collection or just browsing an emulator, you need to know which parts of the list are historical gold and which parts are just expensive plastic.
The Massive Scale of the NES Video Games List
When people talk about the "full set," they’re usually referring to the 677 licensed titles released in the US. But that number is a lie. Well, not a lie, but it's incomplete. If you factor in the unlicensed games from companies like Tengen or Color Dreams, the number jumps significantly.
Tengen is a fascinating rabbit hole. They were basically the rebels of the 80s. Nintendo had this draconian "10-wire" lockout chip called the CIC that prevented unauthorized games from running. Tengen, a subsidiary of Atari, literally sued the US Copyright Office to get the schematics, reverse-engineered the chip, and started releasing games in those sleek, black, rounded cartridges. Their version of Tetris is actually widely considered superior to the official Nintendo version because it had a two-player mode. It’s a weird quirk of history that one of the best games on the NES video games list wasn't even technically allowed to exist.
Regional Weirdness and the Famicom Gap
You also have to consider the regional differences. In Japan, the console was the Famicom (Family Computer). The Famicom library is nearly double the size of the US list. We missed out on some incredibly bizarre stuff. Ever heard of Sweet Home? It’s a Capcom horror RPG that never left Japan, but it’s the direct spiritual predecessor to Resident Evil. If you only look at the Western list, you're missing the DNA of modern gaming.
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Why Some "Grails" Are Actually Terrible
Collectors lose their minds over Little Samson or Panic Restaurant. These games are skyrocketing in price—we’re talking thousands of dollars for a loose cartridge. Is Little Samson good? Yeah, it’s actually a late-generation marvel with incredible animations. But is it $2,000 good?
Honestly, probably not.
The market for the NES video games list has been distorted by nostalgia and "sealed game" investing. Take Action 52. It’s often on the list of "notorious" games. It was an unlicensed cart that promised 52 games in one for the staggering price of $199 back in the early 90s. Almost every single game on it is broken. It’s a disaster. Yet, because of its weird history, people pay a premium for it.
The real value isn't in the price tag. It’s in the games that pushed the hardware to its breaking point. Look at Kirby’s Adventure. It came out in 1993, long after the Super Nintendo had already arrived. It uses every trick in the book—background parallax scrolling, complex sprite rotations—to look like a 16-bit game on 8-bit hardware. That's the kind of stuff that makes a list worth studying.
Misconceptions About "Rare" Titles
A common mistake is thinking "old" equals "rare." Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt is one of the oldest games on the list, but it's also the most common because it was bundled with the console. You can find it for ten bucks at any flea market.
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On the flip side, you have the "Holy Grail": Nintendo World Championships 1990. This wasn't a retail game. It was a custom cart used for a nationwide tournament. There are only 90 gray versions and 26 gold versions (given away in a Nintendo Power contest) known to exist. It’s basically the T206 Honus Wagner of video games. If you find one in an attic, you aren't just looking at a game; you’re looking at a down payment on a house.
How to Actually Navigate a Full NES List
If you’re trying to play through the library, don't go alphabetically. You'll hit A Boy and His Blob (charming but frustrating) and Abadox (punishingly hard) and give up before you hit the letter M.
Instead, categorize the list by "Mappers."
Mappers were chips inside the cartridges that expanded the NES's capabilities. The NES itself was pretty limited, but Nintendo allowed developers to put extra hardware inside the game. The MMC3 chip, for example, allowed for the complex scrolling in Super Mario Bros. 3. Without these chips, the NES video games list would be half as long and much more boring.
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The Genre Leaders
- Platformers: This is the bread and butter. Beyond Mario, you have the Mega Man series (2 and 3 are the peak) and DuckTales. Capcom was on fire during this era.
- RPGs: Dragon Warrior (known as Dragon Quest in Japan) and Final Fantasy started it all, but Crystalis is the hidden gem here. It’s an action RPG that feels much smoother than Zelda.
- Sports: Most NES sports games aged like milk. Except Tecmo Super Bowl. People still play modded versions of this with current NFL rosters because the engine is that solid.
- The "Black Box" Series: These are the original 18 launch titles with the pixelated art on the front. They’re simple—think Golf, Baseball, or Ice Climber—but they have a specific aesthetic that collectors crave.
The Dark Side: LJN and Movie Tie-ins
We can't talk about the NES without mentioning LJN. Their rainbow logo is a warning sign. They handled the licenses for Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Back to the Future.
Most of these were developed by Atlus or Beam Software, but they were rushed out to meet movie release dates. They are notoriously difficult and often make no sense. In Friday the 13th, you spend most of your time fighting zombies in the woods—because that's definitely what happens in the movies, right? Exploring the "bad" side of the NES video games list is a rite of passage. It makes you appreciate the quality control Nintendo eventually tried to enforce with their "Seal of Quality."
Actionable Insights for Collectors and Enthusiasts
Don't just stare at a list on a screen. If you want to dive into the world of 8-bit Nintendo, here is how you do it without getting ripped off or bored:
- Prioritize the "Late-Era" Games: Look for titles released between 1991 and 1994. Developers had mastered the hardware by then. Games like Bucky O'Hare or Shatterhand look and play significantly better than early titles.
- Ignore the "Seal of Quality": It was a marketing gimmick. It just meant the game wouldn't crash the console; it didn't mean the game was actually fun.
- Invest in a Quality CRT: If you’re playing on original hardware, these games were designed for tube TVs. The "scanlines" naturally blur the pixels to make the art look better. On a modern 4K TV, an NES game looks like a jagged mess unless you have an expensive upscaler like a Retrotink.
- Look for "Everdrive" Options: If you want to experience the full NES video games list on real hardware without spending $50,000, look into flash carts. They let you put the entire library on an SD card and play it on the original console. It’s the best way to separate the "hype" games from the "fun" games.
- Watch Out for Repros: High-end games like Bonk's Adventure are frequently faked. If a deal looks too good to be true on eBay, it’s because someone printed a label and stuck it on a copy of Top Gun. Always check the PCB (the green circuit board) inside the cart.
The NES isn't just a nostalgic relic; it's a foundational text. Every "Soulslike" owes a debt to Castlevania's stiff jumping mechanics, and every open-world game started with a pixelated guy holding a wooden sword in a cave. Navigating the list is about finding those threads of history.