NES30 #1: Super Mario Bros 3

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

I wrote a few times during this countdown about the iterative improvements that can come in videogame sequels. A bit of gameplay might get tweaked. The graphics and sound will likely be improved. Programmers will find more innovative ways of drawing the most out of the console's hardware. In all honesty there are very few cases where the first game in a series is the best. It's certainly the case with Super Mario Bros. While it's a legendary game, and rightfully so, in terms of gameplay, graphics and sound it is eclipsed by its first proper successor: Super Mario Bros 3.

I say 'proper': in Japan Super Mario Bros 2 was basically a new set of 32 levels, using the same graphics and sound as the original game but designed to be a more challenging experience. When it was felt that American gamers wouldn't enjoy a more challenging version of the same game, the unrelated Famicom platformer Doki Doki Panic was hurriedly re-skinned and released as another Super Mario Bros 2.

While both games were massive hits in their respective markets, it did leave Super Mario Bros without a properly authentic sequel: one that provided new gameplay, better graphics and sound, and which had benefitted from the oversight and participation of Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto. Super Mario Bros 3 is that game, and it's the absolute best videogame ever released for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

NES30 #2: Super Mario Bros

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

Okay, so not actually my top pick for the NES, but almost inarguably the most iconic title on the list. Super Mario Bros didn't just define the NES, it defined everything Nintendo produced from the moment of its release right up to the present day. I have no doubt than in another 30 years it will still have as much influence over the company, its games and characters, and its outlook. If we're going to avoid unnecessary hyperbole, we should try not to use words like 'masterpiece' and 'legendary', and if we did do that, then those words would be free to use when they really applied - like they should with Super Mario Bros, which is both legendary and a masterpiece.

Mario, of course, started life as the hero of Shigeru Miyamoto's landmark arcade game Donkey Kong. From there he moved on to his own title, Mario Bros, which introduced his brother Luigi as a second player character. Mario Bros was a single screen arcade game, in which players jumped around a set of sewers, stunning and eliminating rogue turtles and insects as they roamed about. When it became clear that Japan's Famicom console was going to be replaced with the new Famicom Disk System, Miyamoto elected to give the retiring console one final game of which it could be proud: Super Mario Bros.

NES30 #3: Tetris

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

In 1984 Alexey Pajitnov was an artificial intelligence researcher working in a Soviet Union laboratory. He had a tendency to program small computer games to test new hardware when it was installed. One day he created a simply puzzle game comprised of falling blocks. He made the shapes tetronimos - objects comprised of four squares arranged together. When it became clear that his screen was rapidly filling up with tetronimos he programmed his game to erase any row on the screen that became completely filled with squares.

When Pajitnov's little game proved hugely popular among the laboratory workers, a few of them ported it to the PC. It suddenly became an enormously popular game across Moscow, under the now legendary title Tetris. Today Tetris is almost certainly one of the most famous and well-played videogames in the entire world. and for many gamers it is a brand synonymous with Nintendo.

NES30 #4: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

For many years The Adventure of Link has been marginalised by fans of The Legend of Zelda. It's often perceived as the 'odd one out', thanks to its strikingly different gameplay and style to the original. Rather than present itself as a top-down adventure, it divides its time between a Final Fantasy-style world map and a series of side-scrolling platform levels. It also brings in RPG-style character progressions, as defeating monsters earns experience that can then be spent to power up Link's abilities.

It is true that The Adventure of Link, which is the second of the Legend of Zelda games, offers a fairly different gaming experience to the bulk of the franchise. That said, I personally find it an immensely satisfying and enjoyable game - even more so that the original that it follows.

NES30 #5: Metroid

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

By the time Metroid was released for the NES in 1987, platform action games were pretty well known and fairly popular. A game about an armoured bounty hunter tracking down a dangerous alien organism on the planet Zebes initially didn't seem too groundbreaking or attention-grabbing. That was before players discovered Metroid's stunning open world. The whole game environment is there from the beginning, but some parts of it are maddeningly inaccessible. Go in a different direction, however, grab a new special ability or attack, and suddenly those inaccessible areas became entirely available. It was a massive, very welcome development for the genre: a non-linear platformer.

NES30 #6: The Legend of Zelda

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

Pretty much the most widely acclaimed and feted videogame designer of all time is Shigeru Miyamoto. Back in the mid-1980s, when Nintendo were developing new titles for their fledgling Famicom system, Miyamoto concurrently designed two key games that would go on to shape the company's fortunes for decades into the future. The first of these games was Super Mario Bros. The second was The Legend of Zelda.

The games were deliberately styled to contrast one another. Super Mario Bros was a linear experience, with the player controlling Mario as he ran and jumped from left to right through a series of 32 levels. The Legend of Zelda offered an expansive series of screens - viewed top-down - and allowed the player to control the forest boy Link as he explored the fantasy world of Hyrule. In a time when videogames still focused on the high score as a measure of player achievement, Zelda abandoned scores entirely: completing the adventure was the only measure of success.

NES30 #7: Dragon Warrior IV

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

Through the 1980s and 1990s there was basically two key role-playing game franchises fighting it out for supremacy on Nintendo's consoles. Square's Final Fantasy stood in one corner, and in the other stood Enix's widely acclaimed Dragon Quest. There were four Dragon Quest games produced for the Famicom, and all four were ported over and translated for the NES in North America under the name Dragon Warrior. The first game debuted in 1989, and was followed by a second in 1990, a third in 1991 and a fourth and final NES title in 1992.

The gameplay was familiar to anybody who had played a Japanese role-playing game (RPG). Players controlled a group of heroes fighting their way across a fantasy kingdom. They travelled via a top-down map screen, entering towns and villages to rest and buy equipment, and journeying into dungeons to kill monsters, gain experience and progress to further areas of the world map. Where Dragon Warrior IV differs from its competitors is in its story, which is unexpected, original and groundbreaking: you control not one protagonist, but five.

NES30 #8: Kid Icarus

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

I received an NES console relatively late in the day. While the console was released in 1985 it was actually in about 1991 that I received a second-hand console and games as a birthday present. There were two games with the console: Tennis, which was relatively rubbish, and Kid Icarus, which remains one of my favourite videogames of all time.

Kid Icarus was released in Japan in 1985, and in the rest of the world in 1987. It's a platform game in which the player controls Pit, a winged fighter with a bow and arrow who fights his way through three different worlds to save the goddess Palutena from the evil Medusa. This Greek mythology-inspired game offered wonderfully cute characters, varied and challenging gameplay, and a bunch of ear-worm musical themes.

NES30 #9: Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

I've already covered both Castlevania and its sequel in this countdown, so I suppose it's a sign of how good this series was that I'm now covering the third Castlevania game for the NES, Dracula's Curse.

The things that made those games successful are still very much in evidence here: an evocative horror setting, crisp and appealing graphics, strong and precise gameplay, and the non-linear structure that adds complexity and a richness that other platforming action games didn't have. So why is the third game superior to the first and second?

NES #10: Excitebike

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

Excitebike is a Famicom racing game produced in 1984, which meant that it was available to be a launch title for the NES the following year. It was designed by legendary Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto, and benefits enormously from his uncanny ability to perfectly shape an enjoyable gameplay experience.

The player controls a motocross rider along a side-scrolling track, attempting to complete a track of ramps and obstacles within a specified time limit. It looks alarmingly simple, but hides a fair amount of subtlety and depth.

NES30 #11: Final Fantasy

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

Square was a Japanese videogame developer launched in 1984 with the PC-8801 game The Death Trap. Within three years, despite having developed and released 23 games for the PC-8801 and Famicom, Square teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. Acknowledging that the company was about to fold, producer Hironobu Sakaguchi named the 24th and presumably last game Final Fantasy. It was a role-playing game, with the player controlling a medieval hero using a variety of menu-based systems. Nobody at Square had much faith in the game beyond Sakaguchi. When it become a massive hit, scoring rave reviews and selling 400,000 copies on the Famicom, it came as an enormous surprise - except maybe for Sakaguchi.

NES30 #12: River City Ransom

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

In 1986 Taito released an arcade game developed by Technos Japan titled Hot-Blooded Tough Guy Kunio - titled Renegade internationally. While not a massive commercial success, it introduced several key elements of the beat-em-up genre, including four directional movement, an ability for a character to choose between punching, kicking and jumping, and waves of enemies who took more than a single hit to defeat. These elements were all put to much more successful use a year later in Taito and Technos' Double Dragon.

The success of Double Dragon didn't deter Technos from revisiting the characters in Renegade. Kunio-kun returned in the 1987 arcade game Hot-Blooded High School Dodgeball Club (released internationally as Super Dodge Ball), and then in the 1989 Famicom game Downtown Hot-Blooded Story. This third title was ported to the NES in the USA in 1990, under the title River City Ransom, and for the NES in Europe in 1992, under the title Street Gangs.

NES30 #13: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

One of the best things about videogames as a medium is that they are so perfectly placed for iterative improvements. A game can be developed and released, and when a sequel is produced it can take on-board feedback from reviews, market sentiment, ideas that the developers always wanted to include in the original, and so on.

It's a general rule of thumb for the medium that the best game in a franchise is rarely going to be the original. Super Mario Bros is not the best Super Mario title, The Legend of Zelda is not the best Zelda title, and - not surprisingly - the best Castlevania game is not the original NES Castlevania.

NES30 #14: Rygar

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

Warriors of Argus was a side-scrolling action game produced by Tecmo, and released into Japanese arcades in 1986. Internationally it was released as Rygar, and its combination of platforming action and its fantasy setting made it a popular hit. When Tecmo ported the game from arcades to the Famicom console, however, they didn't just directly translate it - they completely up-ended and revised the entire game. Where the arcade original was a pure action title, the console remake introduced many elements of the action role-playing game (RPG). The player could explore a more open fantasy world, with separate areas opening up once the player had powered up his or her character sufficiently. It was a hit in Japan when released in 1987, and then a hit in the USA and Europe when released in 1988 and 1990 respectively.

NES30 #15: Castlevania

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

Akumajou Dracula was a horror-themed platform game released by Konami for the Famicom Disk System in 1986. The following year Nintendo of America licensed the title and released in for the NES under the title Castlevania. It was an immediate hit, and led to 38 sequels and spin-offs and counting.

The reasons for the game's success were pretty obvious: Castlevania is a remarkably strong game. It's graphics and appealing and crisply designed, the sound and music are great, and the gameplay - while fairly punishing on the novice player - is well developed, easy to understand and fairly addictive.

NES30 #16: Megaman 2

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

Rockman was a platform videogame released by Capcom in 1987 for the Nintendo Famicom. It was Capcom's first console-only title, having spent previous years working primarily on arcade games. It was also a bit of a flop, selling well below expectations and not really making any great impact on the market. It was released in the USA under the name Mega Man, but didn't sell much better.

That really should have been the end of it, except producer Keiji Inafune and his development team really believed in the quality of their game. They wanted to make a sequel and give it another chance, and so slowly developed one while simultaneously working on higher profile and more successful games for Capcom. By the end of 1988 they had completed their sequel: Rockman 2: The Mystery of Dr Wily, aka Mega Man 2. It wound up selling more than 1.5 million copies.

NES30 #17: Super Mario Bros 2

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

Super Mario Bros was the kind of hit game that didn't just sell well - it reshaped the landscape of computer games. After selling millions of copies, and driving sales on both the Famicom in Japan and the NES internationally, it was inevitable that Nintendo would have to produce a sequel to satisfy public demand. In Japan they released Super Mario Bros 2 for the Famicom Disk System; it featured the same gameplay as the original but with more challenging level designs. When Nintendo of America assessed the title they feared it was too similar to the original game and too difficult for novice players. As a result they elected to bypass releasing the game altogether and instead setting about releasing a Mario sequel of their own.

NES30 #18: Crystalis

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

One hundred years after the Earth is decimated in a terrifying war, a lone survivor is revived from cryogenic suspension. He finds a world completely changed, and now filled with strange monsters, magic and small pockets of human civilization. Discovered what has happened to the world, and defeating the evil Draygonia Empire, forms the story of Crystalis - a 1990 action-RPG produced by Japanese publisher SNK.

The RPG genre only really took off in Japan towards the end of the NES/Famicom life-span, and flourished on their successor consoles. As a result solid RPG titles are often few and far between for the NES, particularly since most of the games that did get produced didn't get ported over from the Famicom. Crystalis is a rare and highly enjoyable exception. It's a game that feels a good three or four years ahead of its time, and still presents an enjoyable challenge today.

NES30 #19: Dr Mario

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

Dr Mario exists because Tetris exists. So successful was Alexei Pajitnov's addictive falling block puzzle game that by 1990 pretty much every owner of a Nintendo console also owned a copy of it. With a huge number of gamers playing Tetris, Nintendo were understandably keen for them to buy another game. So intent were they on making their own puzzle game a smash hit they branded it with their flagship game franchise, Super Mario Bros. They assigned one of their top designers, Gunpei Yokoi, to oversee its development. The resulting game, Dr Mario, is not as good as Tetris - what puzzle game is? - but it is a wonderfully enjoyable puzzle game nonetheless.

NES30 #20: Star Wars

In 2015, Nintendo's hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) turns 30 years old. The NES, an adaptation of Nintendo's already successful Famicom console, re-invigorated console gaming internationally after the collapse of Atari and went on to sell 43 million units worldwide. NES30 celebrates this anniversary by counting down my favourite 30 games for the system.

I swear that it's entirely a coincidence that I'm talking about two licensed titles in a row. Even more coincidentally, they're both adaptations of Lucasfilm titles. Star Wars came out for the NES in 1991, when there was suddenly a flurry of activity circling the property. In June 1991 Bantam Spectra published Heir to the Empire, the first original Star Wars novel in almost a decade. By December Dark Horse comics had published the first new Star Wars comic book in about as long. The following year the Super Nintendo would receive an immensely popular platform action game based on the film, but before that there was this half-forgotten dry run produced for the NES.