The Top 500 Indie NES Games, Vol. 10

Decades after the last licensed Nintendo Entertainment System cart, indie NES developers are still publishing professional-grade NES games. This archive ranks the 1,748 known NES aftermarket titles.

May 03, 2024

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Introduction

A ranking of anything is by definition subjective. Every ranking has a human creator behind it who’s determined what will be measured and how. While I’ve taught video games as an R1 university professor, been a journalist for 25 years, and am a professional culture critic and video game reviewer, none of this ensures that you’ll agree with my judgments—nor does it mean that they’re “objectively” correct.

{Note: Information on my background as a journalist, a critic, a video game reviewer, and an academic specializing in digital culture can be found here.}

It is already the case that more NES titles have been published in this century than were published last century, and it’ll soon be the case that more complete-in-box titles—NES games with a cart, manual, and fully designed box—hail from 2000 and after than the 1900s (there are already over 300 such games, with the pace of their creation increasing each year).

With this in mind, the purpose of this report is to at once advance indie NES game development as a hobby (for gamers and collectors), a teaching tool (for anyone who is interested in becoming a game dev); and a locus for historical preservation (because this ongoing series of Retro reports on indie NES games serves as the largest archive of such games in the world, it tells the ongoing saga of the Nintendo Entertainment System better than any other historical record could). Retro urges its readers to share a link to this report whenever you see people asking around for further reading on the evolution of NES game development after 1995; it’s a story that deserves telling.

My hope is that gamers young and old will come to understand that the NES isn’t just one of the greatest video game consoles ever released; isn’t just the perfect system for those of any age who prefer retro gaming to modern gaming; isn’t just an ideal locus for aspiring game developers hoping to learn the craft; isn’t just a sprawling, uniquely welcoming community of gamers, developers, collectors, video game reviewers, and video game historians; but the future home of the largest game library ever produced.

That’s right: the NES is well on its way to having more games produced for it than any home video game console in human history, and that includes even the PlayStation 2.

But potential fans of the NES—whether adults picking it up again after decades away or young people discovering that 8-bit games speak more to their interests than AAA modern ones—won’t understand the shocking expansion of NES gaming this century if they’re never told that there are thousands of games to play (not just 1,386 NES and Famicom games from last century and the 1,400+ titles from this one listed below, but the 1,000+ additional NES and Famicom games Retro is aware of but simply hasn’t yet had time to play and archive).

In short, this hobby should be even larger than it already is, and the view of Retro is that it will only grow as fast as it can and should if potential new entrants are shown the way in by those already deeply invested in the NES. This means not just pointing neophytes to regular publishers of indie NES games (scores of which are listed below), not just pointing them to developers of such games (hundreds of which are below), but pointing them to an archive of over a thousand titles they can obtain, which archive has been curated by genre to help them find the games they’re most likely to enjoy.

Given the foregoing, the fact that some will agree with the rankings below and some won’t is beside the point—as ultimately the rankings themselves are beside the point. It’s the links that matter: the compiling of names of games, developers, and publishers.

So feel free to use this Retro archive regularly—and do share it as widely as possible!

Total Library Size

This report lists 1,748 indie NES titles, making it by far the largest archive of its kind. This tally includes:

500 ranked games;
334 honorable-mention games;
133 third-tier games;
100 ranked demos;
26 honorable mention demos;
246 untiered games (see “Other Reviewed Games” link in the Table of Contents);
122 “watchlisted” NES games that haven’t yet received a full public release; and
287 additional NES titles that are anthos, apps, tech demos, hacks deemed new-game equivalents, multicarts, music carts, ports, serials, or untranslated games.

Review Copies

Studios or developers looking to send review copies to Retro can arrange to do so here.

The curator of the Retro ranking owns a retroUSB AVS, and can receive new NES games as CIBs, cartridges, digital ROMs, or any combination of these three forms.

Corrections, Dead Links, and Reassessments

If you need to report a dead link, or have a link to your indie NES game that you prefer Retro use over the one now used below, use this contact form to request a change. You can also use this form if you would like Retro to reassess your game because it’s gotten a recent update; make sure to include instructions on where to find the new version.

It’s the goal of this archive to use NESBBS links for games only when they are out-of-print and not available via any other means—with the idea being that it is better for new retro gamers to at least be aware of these titles than to have no idea they exist.

(And while this may be a fanciful hope, if an out-of-print NES title gets new attention through a download link below, that might encourage developers and publishers to give the game a second life through a dedicated ROM-download page on Itch, a new full-CIB release with an independent publisher, or at least some new means of getting info about it into the hands of those who admire it and wish to patronize its maker.)

Retro will remove any link that is deemed inappropriate by the developer of a game, and will do so immediately—no questions asked. You can contact Retro via this form.

Additional Rules

Localizations, prototypes, and reproduction NES games are ineligible for this ranking. A long—but non-exhaustive—list of games falling into these three categories appears toward the end of this Retro report (see the Table of Contents for a link to an external page).

Please note that, as this is an ongoing research project, there may be transient errors in the data below. Retro fully anticipates that over time some games currently noted as originals will be reassessed as “ports,” and vice versa; that a “demakes” section may be added; and that games will be removed from the archive as it is determined that they will never be released or even include assets to which the developer was not entitled.

Retro begs for your patience as this archive becomes more accurate with each edition.

Recommended Websites

Retro urges new and returning indie NES fans to check out these websites and groups:

Broke Studio (indie NES store) 🔹
Daylen Games (indie NES store) 🔹
Etsy (indie NES store) 🔹
Itch.io (homebrew library I)
Itch.io (homebrew library II)
Neodolphino Productions (indie NES store) 🔹
NesDev
NesDev Compo
NES.emu (NES emulator) 🔹
NESmaker
NESmaker Byte-Off
NESWorld
The New 8-Bit Heroes
The Retroverse
RomHacking
Stone Age Gamer (indie NES store) 🔹
The Game Beaters (indie NES reviews)
Video Game Sage (indie NES marketplace)
White Hat 94 (indie NES speedrunning)

More links will be undoubtedly be added to the list above as this still young—just two-year-old—archival project develops.

Complete-in-Box (“CIB”) Indie NES Games

Of the indie NES games below, 305 are available as complete-in-box (“CIB”) titles.

{Note: Use “Ctrl+F” and the phrases below to find the following ranking sections.}

💮 Ranking Key

Full Game Rankings

💮 Action-Adventure
💮 Adventure
💮 Arcade
💮 Card, Dice & Table
💮 Fighting
💮 Kids
💮 Party
💮 Platformer
💮 Puzzle
💮 Rhythm
💮 RPG
💮 Shooter
💮 Simulation
💮 Sports
💮 Strategy
💮 Zapper

Other Reviewed Games

💮 Other Reviewed Games

Demo Rankings

💮 Demos
- The Top 100
- Honorable Mentions

Additional Rankings

💮 Anthologies
💮 Art Apps
💮 Hacks
💮 Multicarts
💮 Music Carts
💮 Music Apps
💮 Ports
💮 Serials
💮 Tech Demos
💮 Untranslated Carts
💮 Utilities
💮 Ineligible Games
- Localizations
- Prototypes
- Reproductions
- Special Editions
💮 The Retro Indie Game Watchlist
💮 The NES Indie Game Hall of Fame
- Hall of Fame Games
- Current Vote Recipients

Ranking Key

{Note: This section, much like the rankings as a whole, is best viewed on a desktop computer.}

✴️ = Voted into the Indie NES Game Hall of Fame by retro gamers and developers.

🔰 = A “Top 500” (First Tier) game; the bolded number beside it is its in-genre ranking.

🔘 = An “Honorable Mention” (Second Tier) indie NES game, according to Retro.

🌀 = An indie NES title that is still in “demo” status rather than a complete game.

🎴 = An indie game that has at some point been available as a complete-in-box product.

🔹 = A title or link new to this report; this symbol is removed for subsequent volumes.

🔸 = A game whose ranking has changed notably in this volume due to a reassessment.

🅰️ = A game featuring adult images, situations, or themes; viewer discretion is advised.

🔫 = A game that requires (rather than just allowing) an NES Zapper to play properly.

📒 = Ranked NES titles that don’t count toward the Top 500 because they’re not games.

Action-Adventure Rankings

Top Games

🔰 #1 | Full Quiet, Retrotainment (^) ✴️
🔰 #2 | Dungeons & Doomknights, Artix (^) ✴️
🔰 #3 | Alfonzo’s Arctic Adventure, SBP (^)
🔰 #4 | Alwa’s Awakening, Elden Pixels (^) ✴️
🔰 #5 | Little Medusa, Mega Cat (^)
🔰 #6 | Spacegulls, Morphcat (^) ✴️
🔰 #7 | Sam’s Journey, Knights of Bytes (^)
🔰 #8 | Trophy, Gradual Games (^) ✴️
🔰 #9 | L’Abbaye des Morts, Parisoft (^) ✴️
🔰 #10 | Nix: The Paradox Relic, Huddleston (^)
🔰 #11 | Little Sisyphus, Pubby (^)
🔰 #12 | The Storied Sword, Raftronaut / BTC (^)
🔰 #13 | Orebody: Binder’s Tale, Vanderhoef (^)
🔰 #14 | Battle Kid 2, retroUSB (^) ✴️
🔰 #15 | Garbage Pail Kids, Retrotainment (^)
🔰 #16 | The Great Gatsby, Hoey (^)
🔰 #17 | Rabbits World, Cmyksoft (^)
🔰 #18 | Space Raft, Raftronaut (^) ✴️
🔰 #19 | Wolfling, Lazy Cow (^)
🔰 #20 | Battle Kid, retroUSB (^) ✴️
🔰 #21 | Adventures of Panzer, Pixelcraft (^) ✴️
🔰 #22 | Nosey Joe: Power Mystery, Baardbi (^) 🔹
🔰 #23 | The Meating, Mega Cat (^)
🔰 #24 | Torgman Adventures, Pt. 1, TORG (^)
🔰 #25 | Cheril’s Nightmares, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #26 | Eyra, Second Dimension (^)
🔰 #27 | Biocats, PB Games (^)
🔰 #28 | They Came to Wreak Hell, Team Disposable (^) 🔸
🔰 #29 | Isostasy, Gravel Studios (^)
🔰 #30 | Nin Nin, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #31 | Cheril the Writer, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #32 | Cheril the Goddess, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #33 | The Wizard of Oz, Waixing (^/^)°
🔰 #34 | Yun, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #35 | Bootèe, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #36 | Tower of Turmoil, CutterCross (^)
🔰 #37 | The Mad Wizard, Sly Dog (^)
🔰 #38 | Jet-Paco, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #39 | Mawthorne, CrazyGroupTrio (^)
🔰 #40 | Snail Hop, Libra Bits (^) 🔹
🔰 #41 | Flowers in the Mirror, Waixing (^/^)
🔰 #42 | Underground Mission, Inventor (^)
🔰 #43 | Nomolos, Gradual Games (^)
🔰 #44 | Center of the Alien, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #45 | Lala the Magical, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #46 | Rainbow Brite, Pixelheart (^)
🔰 #47 | Espitene, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #48 | Machine Cave, Aeromangus (^)
🔰 #49 | Sir Ababol, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #50 | Space Foxes, Henry (^)°°
🔰 #51 | Che-Man, Mojon Twins (^)°°°
🔰 #52 | Ralph 4, Pubby (^)
🔰 #53 | Vigilante Ninja II, Fraker (^)
🔰 #54 | Filthy Kitchen, Dust Mop (^)
🔰 #55 | Nova the Squirrel, Nova Squirrel (^)
🔰 #56 | Desert of the Undead, Retrobro 85 (^)
🔰 #57 | Mirage Protocol, Yurt Fiend (^) 🔸
🔰 #58 | Deth Complex 2, Moore (^)
🔰 #59 | Antenna Antics, FG Soft (^)
🔰 #60 | The Stranger, FG Soft (^)
🔰 #61 | Almika: Star Rider, Mouse Spirit (^)
🔰 #62 | Wo Xiang Niao Niao, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #63 | Zombiehunter Bob, Baardbi (^)
🔰 #64 | Jane Austen’s Adventure, Justice (^)
🔰 #65 | Montezuma’s Revenge, Normal (^)
🔰 #66 | Pelusa Saga, Broke Studio (^)
🔰 #67 | The Myth of Zayla, M8sibit (^)
🔰 #68 | Bobby Six Seven, CalGames (^)
🔰 #69 | LSD: One of Us, Eber (^)
🔰 #70 | Skate Cat, SJ Games (^) 🔸
🔰 #71 | Waddles the Duck, Parker (^) 🔸

Action-Adventure Games: Honorable Mentions

Tier 3: Other Action-Adventure Games

▪️ Almika in Space Too (^)
▪️ Aspen’s Adventure (^)
▪️ Basu (^)
▪️ Friday the 13th: Return to Camp Blood (^)
▪️ Halloween: October 31st (^)
▪️ Hazard: Let Us Out
▪️ Miles Con 2016
▪️ Master of Time (^)
▪️ Musical Quest
▪️ The Ninja of the 4 Seasons
▪️ Ninja Trip (^)
▪️ Reknum: Souls Adventure (^)
▪️ Slice of Bread (^)
▪️ Substation 7 (^) 🔹
▪️ Tankesaurus Rygid (^) 🔹
▪️ Zombie Calavera Prologue

🎴 Complete-in-Box Action-Adventure Games

The Adventures of Panzer
Alfonzo’s Arctic Adventure
Alwa’s Awakening
The Banketh
Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril
Battle Kid 2: Mountain of Torment
Black Jewel Reborn
Bobby Six Seven
Candelabra: The Mad Wizard
Dungeons & Doomknights
Eyra the Crow Maiden
Flowers in the Mirror
Jane Austen’s Adventure
Jet-Paco: Hyper Special Space Agent
L’Abbaye des Morts
Little Medusa
Machine Cave
Mawthorne
The Meating
Miles Con 2016
Montezuma’s Revenge
More Glider
Nix: The Paradox Relic
Nomolos: Storming the Catsle
Pelusa Saga: Kaji’s Trials
Ploid
Rainbow Brite: Journey to Rainbow Land
Reknum: Souls Adventure
Sam’s Journey
Sir Abadol
Skate Cat
Space Raft
Steel Legion
Super Bat Puncher
Tower of Turmoil
Trophy

° Requires the use of an English-language patch to play. Use the UniPatcher app from the Google Play store to quickly combine any NES ROM with an “.ips” translation file.
°° Approximate ranking only (derived exclusively from available gameplay footage).
°°° Dire Job—an earlier, equally playable version of this game, with different sprites and a slightly different narrative—can be found here.

Adventure Game Rankings

Top Games

🔰 #1 | MOMOC, Goaterby (^)
🔰 #2 | Böbl, Morphcat (^) ✴️
🔰 #3 | The Magnilo Case, Dalyen Retro (^)
🔰 #4 | Lizard, Smith (^) ✴️
🔰 #5 | Cave Driller, Mazin (^)
🔰 #6 | Blob Quest, Livak (^)
🔰 #7 | NEScape!, Hanley (^) ✴️
🔰 #8 | The House in the Cemetery, Daylen (^)
🔰 #9 | Dead Tomb, Limited Run Games (^)
🔰 #10 | Cheril of the Bosque, Mojon Twins (^)°
🔰 #11 | Turtle Rescue DX, Turtle Rescue (^)
🔰 #12 | Squirrel Chaser, Hammond (^)
🔰 #13 | What Remains, Iodine Dynamics (^)
🔰 #14 | Temple Dilemma, Chacon (^)
🔰 #15 | Zdey the Game, Art’cade (^)
🔰 #16 | Cowlitz Gamers’ Adventure, Kur (^)
🔰 #17 | Courier, KHAN Games (^) 🔹
🔰 #18 | Bustina, Holmade Games (^) 🔸
🔰 #19 | Escape From Flooded Cave, Voxel (^)
🔰 #20 | Waldos Forever, Raftronaut / Coop (^)
🔰 #21 | Wampus DX, Vanderhoef (^)
🔰 #22 | Kubo 3, SJ Games (^) 🔸
🔰 #23 | Retropia, Scardua (^)
🔰 #24 | Closing In, Parker (^)
🔰 #25 | Cur Manor, Manjiro (^) 🔸
🔰 #26 | Demon District, Klonoa (^)
🔰 #27 | Dream Divers, Game Losers (^)
🔰 #28 | Micro Knight IV, Siudym (^)

Adventure Games: Honorable Mentions

Tier 3: Other Adventure Games

▪️ The Box
▪️ Chasing Bottaflies (^) 🔹
▪️ Dungeon Explorer (^)
▪️ Hallway (^) 🔹
▪️ Jane Jones: Poet Detective
▪️ The Legend of Chang’E (^) 🔹
▪️ The Life of Cirkat
▪️ Nightmare on Elm Street: Son of 100 Maniacs (^)
▪️ Pingback
▪️ Stupidman (^) 🔹
▪️ Windermere

🎴 Complete-in-Box Adventure Games

The Cowlitz Gamers’ Adventure
Dead Tomb
Kubo 3
Lizard
The Magnilo Case
NEScape!
Oof McBrewster’s Haunted House Adventure
Temple Dilemma
What Remains
Zdey the Game

° The Mojon Twins’ Cheril of the Bosque extends over three separately titled ROMS: Cheril of the Bosque: Prologue; Cheril of the Bosque; and Cheril of the Bosque in the Other Bosque. A version of the game in which the protagonist is portrayed as a baby instead of a woman is called Cheril Begins, and is not counted as a separate game here. Another version of the game—Ninjajar, in which the protagonist is portrayed as a ninja—can be found here, and is also not counted as a separate game (despite the presence of other altered sprites in the gameplay, as with Cheril Begins).
°° This title is a visual novel. If or when Retro playtests additional visual novels on the NES, it will consider creating a dedicated category for this new video game sub-genre.

Arcade Game Rankings

Top Games

🔰 #1 | Sparky, Most (^)
🔰 #2 | Assimilate, Nessylum Games (^)
🔰 #3 | XenoCreeps, Ehlers (^)
🔰 #4 | Fire and Rescue, Skyboy Games (^)
🔰 #5 | Kira Kira Star Night DX, RIKI (^)
🔰 #6 | Space Raft Arcade, Raftronaut (^)
🔰 #7 | Coin World, Cmyksoft (^)
🔰 #8 | Yeah Yeah Beebis II, Mega Cat (^)
🔰 #9 | Super Painter, Retrosouls (^)
🔰 #10 | Eskimo Bob, SBP (^)
🔰 #11 | Zooming Secretary, Shiru (^)
🔰 #12 | Blazing Rangers, Karu_gamo (^)
🔰 #13 | Cue, Most (^)
🔰 #14 | Neo Heiankyo Alien, Columbus Circle (^)
🔰 #15 | Altercation, Scott (^)
🔰 #16 | Miroh Jr., Scardua (^)
🔰 #17 | Super Snake, HD380000 (^)
🔰 #18 | Get ’em Gary, Second Dimension (^)
🔰 #19 | Wart Worm Wingding, Vanderhoef (^)
🔰 #20 | Plummet Challenge, Fista Games (^)
🔰 #21 | The Cell, Most (^)
🔰 #22 | Carpet Shark, Fista Games (^)
🔰 #23 | Miroh, Scardua (^) 🔹
🔰 #24 | Super Crusher Fighters, FG Soft (^)
🔰 #25 | Escape From Pong, Gashlin (^)
🔰 #26 | Up the Wall, Most (^)
🔰 #27 | Lawn Mower, Shiru (^)
🔰 #28 | Jammin’ Honey, Fraker (^)
🔰 #29 | Blob Land, Scardua (^)
🔰 #30 | Beer Slinger, Second Dimension (^)
🔰 #31 | Spacewalk 3030, Cramer (^)
🔰 #32 | Proximity Shift, Fiskbit (^)
🔰 #33 | Perfect Pair, Second Dimension (^)
🔰 #34 | I Love Polun-chan’s Rice Balls, Mook (^)*
🔰 #35 | Sinking Feeling, Mega Cat (^)
🔰 #36 | Crabbie Attack, Sherman (^)
🔰 #37 | The Convoy, FG Soft (^) 🔹
🔰 #38 | Get It!, Gravel Studios (^)
🔰 #39 | NES Virus Cleaner, Sly Dog (^)
🔰 #40 | Chopper Bombs, Most (^)
🔰 #41 | The Paper Plane in Subsoil, 5cinq (^)
🔰 #42 | Cyberblade, LCM Games (^)
🔰 #43 | Robo-Ninja Climb, Bite the Chili (^)
🔰 #44 | Germ Squashers, 8bit Evolution (^)
🔰 #45 | Ninja I & II, Elisondo (^)
🔰 #46 | Desert Escape, Wowee! Games (^)
🔰 #47 | Irritating Ship, Fiskbit (^)
🔰 #48 | Spacin’ Gators II, Addolorato (^)
🔰 #49 | Pye the Pyper, Retronika (^)
🔰 #50 | Bombermania, Senil Data (^)
🔰 #51 | Mooooo!, Kevin81 (^)
🔰 #52 | Radish Field, Nice Code (^)
🔰 #53 | Micro Knight V, Siudym (^)°
🔰 #54 | Ouroboros, Scardua (^)
🔰 #55 | Immunatio, Romek RJM (^)
🔰 #56 | Blow Em’ Out, Second Dimension (^)
🔰 #57 | Heist, Johnybot (^)
🔰 #58 | Turtle Party, Sherman (^)
🔰 #59 | Crap Job, Oniric (^)
🔰 #60 | Cross Bomber, Caruso (^) 🔹
🔰 #61 | FamiDepth, Denine (^)
🔰 #62 | Submarine, Dream Gear (^)
🔰 #63 | Fox Hunt, Tolerant X (^)
🔰 #64 | Bovinium Quest, Grey Badge (^)
🔰 #65 | Wacko, Most (^)
🔰 #66 | Alley Bat, FG Soft (^)
🔰 #67 | Clouds n’ Crows, FG Soft (^)
🔰 #68 | Twig, Lemmarx 163 (^) 🔹
🔰 #69 | NEScapades, OmniRetro (^)
🔰 #70 | Paco the Alpaca, Larky (^) 🔹
🔰 #71 | Battle Marine, Suzuki Plan (^) 🔹
🔰 #72 | Super NeSnake 2, retroUSB (^)
🔰 #73 | Ball n’ Flag, Barasc (^)
🔰 #74 | Brick Breaker, Correa (^) 🔸
🔰 #75 | Gruniożerca, Kur & Brzukała (^)
🔰 #76 | Box Boy, Tew (^) 🔸
🔰 #77 | Monarch’s Flight, Palmer (^) 🔹
🔰 #78 | Flyaway, Okunyon (^) 🔹
🔰 #79 | Capture the Flag, Fullbrik (^) 🔹
🔰 #80 | Blade Rewinders, Benito (^) 🔹
🔰 #81 | Animalia Dreamland, Pineberry Fox (^)
🔰 #82 | Rodent-Eating Serpent, Nikku4211 (^)
🔰 #83 | Monkee, Voxel (^) 🔹
🔰 #84 | Flappy Jack, Fraker (^) 🔸
🔰 #85 | Dong, Moby Deee (^) 🔹

Arcade Games: Honorable Mentions

Tier 3: Other Arcade Games

▪️ 8-Bit Xmas 2009: Snowball Fight
▪️ 1007 Bolts
▪️ Ball Catch 80 (^)
▪️ Balloon Stand (^)
▪️ Bird Blaster (^)
▪️ Busy Bar (^)
▪️ Cat Killer (^)
▪️ Cauldron of Elements (^)
▪️ Chase
▪️ Closeout (^)
▪️ Dwarves Manager (^)
▪️ Flappy Bird
▪️ For Points
▪️ The Game (^)
▪️ Hammer and Nail (^)
▪️ The Invasion (^)
▪️ Juhanusolumppialaiset 2017 🅰️
▪️ Just Another Ladder Game
▪️ Kosmity Atakujo
▪️ Lightbike (^) 🔹
▪️ Munchie Attack
▪️ Nanaca Crash
▪️ Nighttime Bastards
▪️ Ninja
▪️ Ninja II
▪️ Ninja Muncher (^)
▪️ NNNNNN
▪️ Over Crisp’d
▪️ Pegs
▪️ Petris (^) 🔹
▪️ RoboRun
▪️ Simplistic (^)
▪️ Super City Mayor
▪️ Super Insect Swatter

🎴 Complete-in-Box Arcade Games

8-Bit Xmas 2009: Snowball Fight
Assimilate
Beer Slinger
Blazing Rangers
Blow Em’ Out
Bovinium Quest
Carpet Shark
Eskimo Bob
FamiDepth
Fire and Rescue
Germ Squashers
Get ’em Gary
The Grind
Gruniożerca°°°
Juhanusolumppialaiset 2017
Kevin Power in Concert Carnage
Kevin Power in Too Many Games
Kira Kira Star Night DX
Lawn Mower
Neo Heiankyo Alien°°°
NES Virus Cleaner
Nighttime Bastards
Ninja I
Ninja II
Ninja I & II
North Korea
Perfect Pair
Plummet Challenge
Super NeSnake 2
Super Painter
Twelve Seconds
Wart Worm Wingding!
Yeah Yeah Beebis II

° More commonly known as Micro Knight: Revenge of the Foul Skulls.
°° Corpse is also known as Cheril in Cadàveriön.
°°° Available in Famicom edition only.
* The untranslated title of this game is (in Japanese) Porun-chan no Onigiri Daisuki.

Card, Dice & Table Game Rankings

Top Games

Card, Dice & Table Games: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | Concentration Room, Yerrick (^)
🔘 | Slots, Nice Code (^) 🔹

Tier 3: Other Card, Dice & Table Games

▪️ Baccarat (^)
▪️ High-Low (^)
▪️ SOS Chess (^) 🔹

🎴 Complete-in-Box Card, Dice & Table Games

Freecell

Fighting Game Rankings

Top Games

🔰 #1 | Haunted (’86), Retrotainment (^) ✴️
🔰 #2 | Jay & Silent Bob: Mall Brawl, SBP (^)
🔰 #3 | Super Tilt Bro., Gadrat (^) 🔸
🔰 #4 | Haunted (’85), Retrotainment (^) ✴️
🔰 #5 | Almost Hero, Mega Cat (^)
🔰 #6 | Jim & Dill 2, CalGames (^)
🔰 #7 | Alfonzo Melee, SBP (^)
🔰 #8 | Leggite Luta Livre, Vanderhoef (^)
🔰 #9 | Justice Duel, Mega Cat (^)
🔰 #10 | Super Homebrew War, Bite the Chili (^)
🔰 #11 | Chibi Monster Br4wl, Coop (^)
🔰 #12 | Oink n’ Boink, James (^)
🔰 #13 | Karate Kick, Moffitt (^)
🔰 #14 | Light Shields, Zutano (^)
🔰 #15 | Chumlee’s Adventure, GSPawn (^)
🔰 #16 | Snow Brawl, Svntax (^)
🔰 #17 | Bushido Bomb, Sleeping Burrito (^)

Fighting Games: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | K.Y.F.F., Sly Dog (^)
🔘 | Super Real Bout 97, Ka Sheng (^)

Tier 3: Other Fighting Games

▪️ Meet Me in the Parking Lot (^)
▪️ Underground Civilization (^) 🔹

🎴 Complete-in-Box Fighting Games

Almost Hero
Chumlee’s Adventure: The Quest for Pinky
City Trouble
Haunted: Halloween ‘85
Haunted: Halloween ‘86
Jay & Silent Bob: Mall Brawl
Jim & Dill 2: Bobson’s Revenge
Justice Duel
K.Y.F.F.
Meet Me in the Parking Lot

Kids Game Rankings

Top Games

🔰 #1 | Maile Penguin’s Adventure, Karikas (^)
🔰 #2 | Mr. Maymunshine’s Christmas Land, CalGames (^)
🔰 #3 | Pair the Pets, Broke Studio (^)

Kids Games: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | The Alphabet, Sly Dog (^)

Tier 3: Other Kids Games

▪️ Learn Numbers (^) 🔹

Party Game Rankings

Top Games

Party Games: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | HappyNESs, Scardua (^)
🔘 | Quadralords, retroUSB (^)
🔘 | Spacey McRacey, Bite the Chili (^)
🔘 | $how do 1000000, Scardua (^)°°

Tier 3: Other Party Games

▪️ Allison’s Amazing Activity Generator (^) 🔹
▪️ Fireplace Bash (^)
▪️ Night Driver (^) 🔹

🎴 Complete-in-Box Party Games

8-Bit Xmas 2011: Fireplace Bash
Billionaire Banshee
Expedition
Quadralords
Tailgate Party

° Tailgate Party is a bean bag–throwing party game that uses the NES Power Pad.
°° Requires knowledge of Portuguese—though for certain of the questions in this quiz-show NES game, advanced knowledge of Spanish will also suffice.

Platformer Rankings

Top Games

🔰 #1 | Micro Mages, Morphcat (^) ✴️
🔰 #2 | Flea! 2, LowTek (^)
🔰 #3 | Flea!, Lowtek Games (^) ✴️
🔰 #4 | Micro Mages: 2nd Quest, Morphcat (^) 🔹
🔰 #5 | Adventures of Panzer 2, Pixelcraft (^) ✴️
🔰 #6 | Nebs ’n Debs, Dullahan Software (^) ✴️
🔰 #7 | Project Blue, Phillips/FrankenGraphics (^) ✴️
🔰 #8 | Streemerz, Faux Games (^) ✴️
🔰 #9 | Basse Def Adventures, Broke Studio (^)
🔰 #10 | Cowlitz’s 2nd Adventure, Kur/MTee (^) ✴️
🔰 #11 | Twin Dragons, Broke Studio (^) ✴️
🔰 #12 | Pizza Portals, Artix (^)
🔰 #13 | The Void, Behr / LCM Games (^)
🔰 #14 | Cowlitz’s Lost Adventure, Kur/MTee (^)
🔰 #15 | Wolf Spirit, Salgueiro (^)
🔰 #16 | Rollie, Optovania (^)
🔰 #17 | Espitenen & Pimponen, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #18 | Shera and the 40 Thieves, CGT (^)
🔰 #19 | Ghoul Grind, WoogWorx (^)
🔰 #20 | Slow Mole, Rosenlund (^) ✴️
🔰 #21 | Mischief Castle, KN56K (^) 🔹
🔰 #22 | Copter Bot, Cramer (^)
🔰 #23 | Cube, Resident Emil (^)
🔰 #24 | Doodle World, Peters (^) ✴️
🔰 #25 | Paco: New Frontiers, Larky (^) 🔹
🔰 #26 | City Trouble, Den Kat Games (^)
🔰 #27 | Deth Complex, Moore (^)
🔰 #28 | Assault on Planet Beezlbub, Moore (^)
🔰 #29 | Pinky, Axbakk Games (^)
🔰 #30 | Nessy! The NES Robot, DTG (^)
🔰 #31 | Super Uwol, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #32 | Cheril in the Cave, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #33 | Rendezvous, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #34 | Nim & Nom, Krill (^)
🔰 #35 | Espinete Meets Ana, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #36 | Espinete Strikes Back, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #37 | Nalleland, Nallebeorn (^)
🔰 #38 | Mosh Lift, Morphcat (^) 🔸
🔰 #39 | Rooms, Manjiro (^) 🔸
🔰 #40 | Cheril Perils Classics, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #41 | Cursed Village, Kamaleon70 (^) 🔹
🔰 #42 | Battery Chad, Formula Fanboy (^)
🔰 #43 | Pinky Xmas, Axbakk (^)
🔰 #44 | Mutant Sewer Girls, Boring Kate (^)
🔰 #45 | Blickel, Vintro Studios (^)
🔰 #46 | Mega Ari, Little Limit (^) 🔸
🔰 #47 | Welcome Treasure Man, Awful Games (^)
🔰 #48 | Attack of the Gummy Bears, Duel (^)
🔰 #49 | Enormous Adventures, Game Losers (^)
🔰 #50 | Awol, Most (^)
🔰 #51 | Pugslay’s Parades, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #52 | Bowels of the Beast, Moore (^)
🔰 #53 | Inversion, Kur / Red Moon (^)
🔰 #54 | Monona Ninona Pana, Mojon Twins (^)°
🔰 #55 | MineShaft, Nioreh (^)
🔰 #56 | Tomb Gator, Addolorato (^)
🔰 #57 | Pogo Cats, Yggi (^)
🔰 #58 | Study Hall, Hanley (^)
🔰 #59 | Study Hall 2, retroUSB (^)
🔰 #60 | Fish, Voxel (^)
🔰 #61 | Wildy West, Justadude (^) 🔹
🔰 #62 | Arlington Apple, Team Disposable (^)
🔰 #63 | Frog, Boston Breams (^)
🔰 #64 | Noxious Liquid, Pablomanez (^)
🔰 #65 | Moonglow, Yurt Fiend (^)
🔰 #66 | Driar, Adolfsson & Eriksson (^)
🔰 #67 | Platycat, Logana (^)
🔰 #68 | Lala Lah, Mojon Twins (^)°°°
🔰 #69 | Space Mutants, Moore (^)
🔰 #70 | Falling, Tragic Muffin (^)
🔰 #71 | Falldown, Sivak (^)
🔰 #72 | I Wanna Flip the Sky, Livak (^)
🔰 #73 | Kur Tu Teci Gailīti Manu, Retro Istaba (^)
🔰 #74 | Blobert, Mystical Wheelbarrow (^)
🔰 #75 | Mega Mountain, Adrian Makes Games (^)
🔰 #76 | Exit Loop, The Mad Cete (^)

Platformers: Honorable Mentions

Tier 3: Other Platformers

▪️ Alex Islands (^)
▪️ Miner
▪️ Minotaur Game
▪️ Obstacle Trek
▪️ Kapitan Sowa
▪️ A Simple Platformer Game
▪️ Star Retrievers (^) 🔹
▪️ Super Honza (^)

🎴 Complete-in-Box Platformers

8Bit Xmas 2015: 12 Seconds
8Bit Xmas 2019: Study Hall 2
The Adventures of Panzer 2
Basse Def Adventures
The Cowlitz Gamers’ Second Adventure
Doodle World
Dragon Leap
Exit Loop
Flea!
Flea! 2
Micro Mages
Nebs ’n Debs
Pinky
Project Blue
Rollie
Shera & the 40 Thieves
Space Mutants
Study Hall
Super Adventure Jih
Super Uwol
Twin Dragons

° Another version of this game, Baboon, has identical gameplay but different sprites.
°° This game, an unlicensed NES adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog, extends across three discrete subgame ROMS: Sonic Mal, Sonic 2, and Sonic 3: Sonic of the Bosque.
°°° This game is a “mirror image” of Petulant Pugslay’s Powerful Parades; in Lala Lah, the player plays the former game “right side up” rather than wholly upside-down.
°°°° This game’s final boss hasn’t yet been coded, leaving the game without an ending.

Puzzle Game Rankings

Top Games

Puzzle Games: Honorable Mentions

Tier 3: Other Puzzle Games

▪️ Americannon (^) 🔹
▪️ Coin-Grab Puzzler (^)
▪️ Dude, The Deck Swabber (^)
▪️ Enigmacore
▪️ HexS
▪️ Knurps Egg Rescue (^)
▪️ Melo-Jellos 2
▪️ Planter (^)
▪️ Puck-Man Puzzler (^)
▪️ Race-car Guzzler (^)
▪️ Randy in Sokobanland (^)
▪️ Robotfindskitten (^) 🔸
▪️ Santa’s Snowman (^)

🎴 Complete-in-Box Puzzle Games

0-to-X
8-Bit Xmas 2020: Dr. Covio
Alter Ego
AO
Draiocht
Dushlan
Enigmacore
Family Picross
Force Bot
From Below
GemVenture
Hack*Match
Halloween 2017
The Incident
Lan Master
Lucky Penguin
Multidude
Mystic Pillars
Rock Paper Scissors
Roniu’s Tale
Soko Banana
Tapeworm Disco Puzzle
UXO: Unexploded Ordinance
Witch n’ Wiz

° To play this game, you will need to rename the ROM file after downloading it by removing the “.txt” extension; this will automatically convert the file to a “.nes” file.

Rhythm Game Rankings

Top Games

Rhythm Games: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | Hocus Pocus Hero, Tomlin / Percival (^)

🎴 Complete-in-Box Rhythm Games

8-Bit Rhythm Land°°°

° Supermagic Music Maker isn’t so much an NES “game” as it is an NES “experience.”
°° TRACK+FEEL II is optimized for use with the Power Pad, but can be played without it; Hocus Pocus Hero requires the use of a hacked Guitar Hero 2 guitar, and cannot be played without it.
°°° Available in Famicom edition only.

RPG Rankings

*Jim & Dill 1: The Legend of Weed N’ Stiff.*

Top Games

🔰 #1 | The Legends of Owlia, Gradual (^) ✴️
🔰 #2 | Jim & Dill 1, CalGames (^)
🔰 #3 | Chaos Between Realms, VGU (^)
🔰 #4 | Save the Kuin, Yukahu Games (^)
🔰 #5 | Mystic Origins, New 8-Bit Heroes (^)
🔰 #6 | Anguna, Bite the Chili (^) ✴️
🔰 #7 | Mauri Mursu’s Hangover, Nervanti (^)
🔰 #8 | We Are Hejickle, Pubby (^)
🔰 #9 | Quest Forge, Ludosity (^)
🔰 #10 | Paws of the West, Pigeonaut (^) 🔸
🔰 #11 | Candelabra: Estoscerro, Sly Dog (^)
🔰 #12 | Carmilla, CrazyGroupTrio (^)
🔰 #13 | Adventures of Eldorin, Outlaw Bits (^)
🔰 #14 | 1000 Stars, Vufka (^)
🔰 #15 | Moon Harvest, Scardua (^)
🔰 #16 | Tempered Vengeance, Pacnsac (^) 🔹
🔰 #17 | Just a Game, Jacotomo (^)
🔰 #18 | File Fixers, Scardua (^)
🔰 #19 | Love Recovery, Moehr (^)
🔰 #20 | Black Box Challenge, Sly Dog (^)
🔰 #21 | Pwn Adventure Z, Vector 35 (^)
🔰 #22 | Swords & Runes III, Sole Goose (^)
🔰 #23 | Swords & Runes: Dark Tower, Sole Goose (^)
🔰 #24 | Swords & Runes, Sole Goose (^)
🔰 #25 | CORGS Simulator, Burke /Files (^)
🔰 #26 | The Paths of Bridewell, ZKIP (^)
🔰 #27 | Roguelore, Scardua (^)
🔰 #28 | Essay Icey, Nagle (^) 🔹
🔰 #29 | HouYi Shot the Suns, Kiki Wang (^) 🔹
🔰 #30 | The Story of Helga, Baardbi (^) 🔹

Tier 3: Other RPGs

▪️ The Adventures of Lex & Grim (^)
▪️ Dangeon (^)
▪️ Escape From the Art Trail (^) 🔹
▪️ The Fantasy Legend (^) 🔹
▪️ First Light’s Cry (^)
▪️ Meribo (^) 🔹
▪️ Monster Slayer (^)

🎴 Complete-in-Box RPGs

Anguna: Scourge of the Goblin King
Black Box Challenge
Candelabra: Estoscerro
Chaos Between Realms: Mission to MGC
Jim & Dill 1: The Legend of Weed N’ Stiff
The Legends of Owlia
Mauri Mursu’s Hangover
Mystic Origins
Quest Forge
Save the Kuin
Swords and Runes
Swords and Runes III
Tempered Vengeance

° Often stylized as “Steins;Gate” [sic].

Shooter Rankings

GSK | https://cohost.org/gosokkyu on X: "OVER OBJ, the hardware-defying homebrew Famicom danmaku STG, is available for order once again after quickly selling out https://t.co/Rbeakfnd6l🇯🇵 (it may or may not be getting an — *Over Obj*.

Top Games

🔰 #1 | Astro Ninja Man, Columbus Circle (^) ✴️
🔰 #2 | Blade Buster, High Level Challenge (^) ✴️
🔰 #3 | Haradius Zero, Neodolphino (^)
🔰 #4 | Over Obj, Little Sound (^)
🔰 #5 | Donkey Soldier, Vanderhoef (^)
🔰 #6 | Steel Moons, Mazionach (^) 🔸
🔰 #7 | Haratyler, Impact Soft (^)
🔰 #8 | Star Keeper, 87 Arts (^)
🔰 #9 | Aspect Star N, Nicole Express (^)
🔰 #10 | Mine Mayhem, FG Soft (^)
🔰 #11 | Sgt. Helmet: Training, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #12 | Gunhawk, Skyboy (^)
🔰 #13 | Copper Jacket, Monsoon Studios (^)
🔰 #14 | D’veel’ng, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #15 | Gold Guardian Gun Girl, GoodTune (^)
🔰 #16 | Cheril the Nine, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #17 | GunTneR, Langel (^)
🔰 #18 | Oratorio, Vanderhoef (^)
🔰 #19 | Sgt. Helmet: Commando, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #20 | Bat Lizard Bonanza, Vanderhoef (^)
🔰 #21 | The Rise of Amondus, Sly Dog (^)
🔰 #22 | Chrono Knight, Artix (^) 🔸
🔰 #23 | Star Versus, Dust Mop (^)
🔰 #24 | Mega Meghan, Mojon Twins (^)
🔰 #25 | Encuera Women, Mojon Twins (^)°
🔰 #26 | X-Horde, Caruso (^)
🔰 #27 | Vegetablets Go, Tulip House (^)
🔰 #28 | Touhou Rououmu, Kyoske (^)
🔰 #29 | Cat Mercs, Team Disposable (^)
🔰 #30 | Spook-o’-Tron, Sole Goose (^)
🔰 #31 | Drunk Time Traveler’s Fiancée, 8BZ (^)
🔰 #32 | Mermay’s Den, Mihoshi (^)
🔰 #33 | Rekt, FG Soft (^)
🔰 #34 | F-22, Inventor (^)
🔰 #35 | DABG, Hoffman (^)
🔰 #36 | Troll Burner, New 8-Bit Heroes (^)
🔰 #37 | Bloodfall, Ludos (^) 🔸
🔰 #40 | Spirit Impel, Passe Gaming (^)
🔰 #41 | T*Gun, Crisafulli (^)
🔰 #42 | Lunar Limit, Pubby (^)
🔰 #43 | Bandana, Most (^)
🔰 #44 | Zombie Night, Most (^)
🔰 #45 | Sweethearts, Zhamul (^)
🔰 #46 | War Boat, Timeline Games (^) 🔸
🔰 #47 | Improbability Fighter, Scardua (^)
🔰 #48 | Thwaite, Yerrick (^)
🔰 #49 | Dragon Feet, Crisafulli (^)
🔰 #50 | CYO, Nemesys (^)
🔰 #51 | My DVD Logo Daycare, Wrymouth (^)

Shooters: Honorable Mentions

Tier 3: Other Shooters

▪️ 8-Bit Xmas 2010: Jolly Joyriding
▪️ 8-Bit Xmas 2012: Biplane Dogfight
▪️ 8-Bit Xmas 2013: Santa’s Blasters
▪️ Auge
▪️ Axelay
▪️ Boo (^) 🔹
▪️ Brandon, You’re Going to Hell
▪️ Brilliant Pebbles
▪️ Cornball C*cksuckers
▪️ Final Blood (^)
▪️ Galaxy NES (^)
▪️ Gold Fins, Steel Hearts (^) 🔹
▪️ Halloween 2009
▪️ Happy Scrappy & the Haunted Mansion
▪️ Iconoclast (^)
▪️ Invaders Must Die
▪️ Little Flame
▪️ Meteor Guard 2 (^)
▪️ Meteor Swarm
▪️ NES Sample Balls
▪️ Orphea
▪️ Poronkusema
▪️ Project Commando (^) 🔹
▪️ Slaughter (^)
▪️ S.T.I.N.G. (^)
▪️ Terminator (^)
▪️ Zack in Time

🎴 Complete-in-Box Shooters

8-Bit Xmas 2010: Jolly Joyriding
8-Bit Xmas 2012: Biplane Dogfight
8-Bit Xmas 2013: Santa’s Blasters
Astro Ninja Man°°
Brandon, You’re Going to Hell
Candelabra: The Rise of Amondus
Copper Jacket
Ghoul Grind: Night of the Necromancer
Gold Guardian Gun Girl
Gunhawk
Halloween 2009
Haradius Zero
Haratyler°°
Kubo 1 & 2
Lunar Limit
Oratorio
Over Obj
Rekt
Scramble
Sgt. Helmet: Training Day
Spirit Impel
Spook-o’-Tron
Star Keeper
Star Versus
Super PakPak
T*Gun
Uchūsen

° Encuera Women extends across three separately titled ROMs: Encuera Women in the Swamp; Encuera Women in the Desert; and Encuera Women on the Rooftops.
°° Available in Famicom edition only.

Simulation Game Rankings

Top Games

Sims: Honorable Mentions

° This game requires both a Power Pad and a Power Glove.
°° A conversation/dating simulation game with text entirely in Japanese. An English patch or intermediate reading knowledge of Japanese is needed to play this game.

Sports Game Rankings

NES Longplay [4291] Za! Yukigassen - YouTube — *Za! Yukigassen* (*Snowball Fight*).

*Gotta Protectors: Amazon’s Running Diet.*

Top Games

🔰 #1 | Arm Wrestling Classic, Fista Games (^)
🔰 #2 | Snowball Fight, Takenoko (^)
🔰 #3 | Beyond the Pins, Hanley / Holland (^)°
🔰 #4 | Log Jammers, Mega Cat (^)
🔰 #5 | Creepy Brawlers, Mega Cat (^)
🔰 #6 | Galf, Spoony Bard (^)
🔰 #7 | Amazon’s Training Road, Limited Run (^)
🔰 #8 | Amazon’s Running Diet, Ancient (^)
🔰 #9 | King Fishing, Silicon Pyramid (^) 🔹
🔰 #10 | Fishing Tournament, Nice Code (^)
🔰 #11 | Haku Goes Fishing, Haku (^)
🔰 #12 | Project D.A.R.T., CutterCross (^)
🔰 #13 | F-Theta, Neodolphino (^)
🔰 #14 | Skiing, retroUSB (^)
🔰 #15 | EV Cruising, M8sibit (^)
🔰 #16 | Skate Scramble, Eggs with Leggs (^)
🔰 #17 | Tiny Golf Johnybot (^)
🔰 #18 | NESert Golfing, Smith (^)
🔰 #19 | 8bit Slicks, 8bit Dude (^)
🔰 #20 | Rumblefest ‘89, Jurassic Sunset (^)
🔰 #21 | F-FF, Pubby (^)
🔰 #22 | Fishing Challenge, Hanley (^)
🔰 #23 | RC2 Rally, Good_Tune (^)
🔰 #24 | Mr. Splash, Project F (^)
🔰 #25 | Sprilo, Brown (^) 🔹

Sports Games: Honorable Mentions

Tier 3: Other Sports Games

▪️ Box & Wrestle (^)
▪️ Caged Fury
▪️ Firewall (^)
▪️ Soccer of the World (^)
▪️ Tennis for Two (^) 🔹

🎴 Complete-in-Box Sports Games

8-Bit Xmas 2018: Xmas Skiing
8-Bit Xmas 2021: Exciteduck
Amazon’s Running Diet
Amazon’s Training Road
The Arm Wrestling Classic
Beyond the Pins
Creepy Brawlers
Galf
Log Jammers
Mr. Splash
RC2 Rally

° Offers a substantial Adventure game component as well as a bowling game.

Strategy Game Rankings

Top Games

Strategy Games: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | Guardian 5, Maaskant (^)

Tier 3: Other Strategy Games

▪️ Tanks (^) 🔹

🎴 Complete-in-Box Strategy Games

Armed for Battle
Galactic Ascension
Tower Defense 1990

° The title of this game has been mistranslated from Chinese, possibly as “Fighting Pirates” (erroneously transliterated as “Fated Pirate”). The correct title (“对抗海盗”) is Against the Pirates; the protagonist is in each stage fighting off hordes of marauders. Note that you input your ship’s movement in a very unusual way—via the Start button.

Zapper Game Rankings

Top Games

(🔫 required unless otherwise noted)

Zapper Games: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | Messed Intentions, Sanchez-Arroyo / Iwaniec (^)°°
🔘 | Panesian Power, retroUSB (^) 🅰️
🔘 | TYMKRS: The Rabbit Hole, Grey (^)
🔘 | Zombie Zap, Bailey (^)

Tier 3: Other Zapper Games

▪️ Blastered Cats 1K (^)
▪️ Zap Ping

🎴 Complete-in-Box Zapper Games

Super Russian Roulette

° Can be played with a controller instead of a zapper, if the player wishes.
°° Requires the use of an Oculus Rift as well as an NES and NES Zapper. See the link following the game for an explanation of the game’s mechanics and synchronization.

Demo Rankings

The Trial of Kharzoid by Pascal Belisle — *Trial of Kharzoid*.

Orange Island on Steam — *Orange Island*.

Dimension Shift - Almost Gameplay lol — *Dimension Shift*.

The Top 100 Demos

🌀 #1 | Trial of Kharzoid, Belisle (^) rpg 🔹
🌀 #2 | Light From Within, Atarath (^) rpg
🌀 #3 | Orange Island, Sterchi (^) a-a
🌀 #4 | Dimension Shift, Mugi (^) a-a 🔹
🌀 #5 | Halcyon, Bite the Chili (^) a-a
🌀 #6 | Super Bat Puncher, Morphcat (^) a-a ✴️
🌀 #7 | Tactus, Zeta (^) a-a
🌀 #8 | Stellarator, McKinley (^) rpg
🌀 #9 | Trouble at 2A03, Team Disposable (^) a-a
🌀 #10 | Crowborg, Miau (^) a-a
🌀 #11 | Hey Reset, Jacotomo (^) plat
🌀 #12 | Adventures of Panzer 3, Pixelcraft (^) plat 🔹
🌀 #13 | Raven’s Gate, Mercury BD (^) a-a
🌀 #14 | Rick Starfield, Nietfeld (^) a-a
🌀 #15 | Panzer: Frontiers, Pixelcraft (^) shoot
🌀 #16 | Silver Island, Digit 2600 (^) a-a
🌀 #17 | NecroNancy, Artix (^) plat
🌀 #18 | Minekart Madness, Hughson (^) arc
🌀 #19 | Space Hero, Nietfeld (^) a-a
🌀 #20 | Mogura Mines, 8bitalo (^) plat
🌀 #21 | Join Us, Aerage Games (^) sim
🌀 #22 | No Good Choice, Veremenko (^) rpg
🌀 #23 | Kingdom Crisis, Ninja Dynamics (^) a-a
🌀 #24 | Tryptic, CrazyGroupTrio (^) adv
🌀 #25 | Skatemasta Tcheco, Parisoft (^) sports 🔹
🌀 #26 | Echoes of the Unread, Clever Cat (^) adv
🌀 #27 | Summer Island, Ninja Dynamics (^) strat
🌀 #28 | Alien Cat 2, PSCD Games (^) puzzle
🌀 #29 | Saturdayman, Sunday Pistols (^) a-a
🌀 #30 | Kuku-Ruku, Siudym (^) a-a
🌀 #31 | Alien Isolation, Siudym (^) adv
🌀 #32 | Cold & Starving, Memlvar (^) adv
🌀 #33 | Mark of the Beast, Red Moon (^) a-a
🌀 #34 | Steel Legion, Aeon & Star (^) a-a
🌀 #35 | Time Survivor, Tinsley (^) rpg
🌀 #36 | Sunset Land, Industrial Pixels (^) a-a
🌀 #37 | Beyond Frontier 5, Baardbi (^) a-a
🌀 #38 | Reign of Death, Fernandez (^) a-a
🌀 #39 | Burn ‘em Down, Dr. Colossus (^) a-a
🌀 #40 | Paws N’ Play, Darthlother (^) arc
🌀 #41 | The Prying Eye, CutterCross (^) adv
🌀 #42 | Nightmare Castle, TolerantX (^) arc 🔹
🌀 #43 | Neotoxin, Snowbro (^) shoot
🌀 #44 | The Banketh, RetroNES Games (^) a-a
🌀 #45 | Api the Cat, Latetera (^) plat
🌀 #46 | Be a Pirate!, Futuretroistic (^) arc
🌀 #47 | Heather the Beheader, Addolorato (^)
🌀 #48 | Soul Stone, Harry Dwarf (^) adv
🌀 #49 | The Cube, Rusty Retro (^) a-a
🌀 #50 | Cult of the Voodoo Ninjas, Moore (^) a-a
🌀 #51 | Hiatus Ward, Sedwave (^) a-a
🌀 #52 | Sweetleaf, Cramer / Marcel (^) adv
🌀 #53 | Dummy Duck 7, Caudel (^) a-a
🌀 #54 | Exophage, Icon Ninja (^) a-a 🔹
🌀 #55 | Ashen House, CrazyGroupTrio (^) fight
🌀 #56 | Kazik, Siudym (^) adv
🌀 #57 | Harry Dwarf, Convoy Avenger (^) adv
🌀 #58 | Star Power, Nia Prene (^) shoot
🌀 #59 | Elemental, James (^) a-a
🌀 #60 | Zapp & Zapper, van der Burg (^) a-a
🌀 #61 | Delta 9, Grimware (^) a-a
🌀 #62 | Land Ahoy!, SciNEStist (^) a-a
🌀 #63 | Snackventure, Smile Hero (^) plat
🌀 #64 | Eternal Prelude, Rustocrat (^) rpg
🌀 #65 | Ramen Adventure, Baldriz (^) a-a
🌀 #66 | Black Jewel Reborn, PSCD Games (^) a-a
🌀 #67 | Catventure, Talking Cat (^) a-a 🔹
🌀 #68 | Press Start Again, Coop (^) a-a
🌀 #69 | To the Ends of the Earth, RinRem (^) rpg
🌀 #70 | Laser, Sav (^) puzzle
🌀 #71 | MultiDefender, Tvoybro (^) shoot
🌀 #72 | Project S.K.I.F.F., Chacon (^) shoot
🌀 #73 | Underground Adventure, Coop (^) plat
🌀 #74 | Nosey Joe v. the IT-Bandit, Baardbi (^) a-a
🌀 #75 | Double Dream, Magidev (^) plat
🌀 #76 | Klepsydra, Drexegar (^) shoot
🌀 #77 | Atmoss9, FFFF Lab (^) a-a
🌀 #78 | The Shaolin Warrior, Dzedzel (^) plat
🌀 #79 | Claudia Adventure, Voltopt (^) a-a
🌀 #80 | Fight of the Phoenix, Lother (^) fight
🌀 #81 | Skybound Quest, Reimer (^) a-a
🌀 #82 | Coffin Pauper, Menges (^) arc
🌀 #83 | Time Space Odyssey, Steel River (^) shoot
🌀 #84 | Space Soviets, FG Soft (^) shoot
🌀 #85 | Press Start, Coop (^) a-a
🌀 #86 | Bogen, Foerg & Harrell (^) a-a
🌀 #87 | Ninja Teenz, Sherman (^) a-a
🌀 #88 | King of Monsters, FG Soft (^) shoot
🌀 #89 | Shadow, Red Herring (^) adv
🌀 #90 | Raz Adventure, Axbakk (^) a-a
🌀 #91 | Utaco, Zurashu (^)° rhythm
🌀 #92 | Inherent Smile, Calima (^) rpg
🌀 #93 | Shadow of the Lemming, Siudym (^) plat
🌀 #94 | Panzer: DMuscles, Pixelcraft (^) arc
🌀 #95 | Duckstroma, AB Ultra Narwhal (^) plat
🌀 #96 | Sparkle Panda, Futuretroistic (^) adv
🌀 #97 | Gypsum & the Travelers, BMG (^) rpg 🔹
🌀 #98 | Swamp Donkey, Metalvain (^) a-a
🌀 #99 | Shadow Animus, CoL (^) rpg
🌀 #100 | Shokan Doro, Gonzalez (^) rpg

Demos: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | 99 Crystals, Chacon (^) a-a
🔘 | Afterworld Deluxe, Star Blades (^) adv 🔹
🔘 | Alerio, Chalion X (^) adv 🔹
🔘 | Anna, East Pixel (^) plat 🔹
🔘 | Banana Nana, Riecke & Bétoux (^) a-a
🔘 | Breakfast of Champions, Francoeur (^) fight
🔘 | CoOperating System, Mihoshi (^) arc
🔘 | An Elf’s Tale, Bardsley (^) rpg
🔘 | Fõonfboärder, Vufka (^) sports
🔘 | Harry’er Space, Harry Dwarf (^) shoot
🔘 | Isle Quest, Parker (^) rpg 🔹
🔘 | Jet Set Willy, Siudym (^) plat
🔘 | Kart Racer ‘86, Blackbird Dev (^) sports
🔘 | Le Manoir des Zombies, SJ Games (^) adv
🔘 | Muck Sunflower, Kevintron (^) arc
🔘 | Nathan & Drake’s Adventure, Perez (^) a-a
🔘 | Nezumi, Pereira (^) a-a
🔘 | Night of the Lee High Slayer, Audia (^) fight
🔘 | Page Turner, Ferret Hall (^) rpg
🔘 | Project Kunoichi, GX ‘79 (^) a-a
🔘 | Rescue Time, SJ Games (^) plat
🔘 | ROB.N, SJ Games (^) fight
🔘 | Sack of Flour, Heart of Gold, Rost (^) adv
🔘 | Synther, Night Music (^) a-a 🔹
🔘 | Veggie Invaders, Dustmop (^) a-a
🔘 | Young Oscar-San, ORart Games (^) fight

° A karaoke game requiring use of a Famicom Microphone in the second NES port.

Anthology Rankings

Top Anthologies

📒 #1 | Triple Jump, Morphcat (^)

🥇 Micro Mages: Second Quest
🥈 Spacegulls
🥉 Böbl

📒 #2 | Action 53 #4, Various (^)°°

🥇 Gruniożerca 3
🥈 Project Blue°
🥉 Gruniożerca 2
The Cowlitz Gamers’ Lost Adventure
Wolfling
We Are Hejickle
Aspect Star N
Cheril’s Nightmares
Super Uwol
Jammin’ Honey

📒 #3 | Action 53 #3, Various (^)

🥇 Nebs n’ Debs°
🥈 Twin Dragons
🥉 Haunted: Halloween ‘85°
Sinking Feeling
Cheril the Goddess
Filthy Kitchen
Ralph 4
Super Tilt Bro.
Lala the Magical
Karate Kick

📒 #4 | Action 53 #2, Various (^)

🥇 Sgt. Helmet: Training Day
🥈 2048
🥉 RHDE: Furniture Fight
Super PakPak
Double Action Blaster Guys
Sir Abadol
PCB Artist
MilioNESy
Solar Wars
Love Story

📒 #5 | Action 53 #1, Various (^)

🥇 Zooming Secretary
🥈 Lawn Mower
🥉 LAN Master
Streemerz
MineShaft
Pogo Cats
Driar
Thwaite
Russian Roulette 🅰️
Forehead Block Guy

📒 #6 | NESDEV 2019 Compo Cart, Various (^)

🥇 Böbl
🥈 Blockage
🥉 NIN NIN
Hot Dance 2020
Bloodfall
Falling Tiles
Veggie Invaders
Super City Mayor
Save the Kuin
NNNNNN

Anthologies: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | MGC Homebrew Showcase 2011, Various (^)*
🔘 | Atari Flashback Mini 7800, Haywood (^)
🔘 | Game On Expo 2015, Collectorvision (^)°°°/*
🔘 | Garage Cart, Parsell / Covell (^)*
🔘 | HBWC 2012, Various (^)*
🔘 | MGC Arcade Pack 2022, Tolbert (^)*

🎴 Complete-in-Box Anthologies

Action 53, Vol. 1: Function 16
Action 53, Vol. 2: Double Action 53
Action 53, Vol. 3: Revenge of the Twins
Action 53, Vol. 4: Actually 54
Home Brew World Championship 2012
MGC Arcade Pack
NESDEV 2019 Compo Cart
Retroplayer Championship 2016

° Demo version.
°° Other games of particular note anthologized for the first time in this unusually stacked anthology cart include (in alphabetical order), The Alfonzo Game, Alfonzo Melee, Espitene, Euchre, Falling, Get It!, Leak or Die, Nalleland, Nim & Nom, Robo-Ninja Climb, Split Second, Star Evil, and Super Homebrew War.
°°° This 25-screen-long Sydney Hunter adventure is exclusive to this competition cart.
* 2011 Midwest Gaming Classic NES Homebrew Showcase includes Concentration Room, Tetramino, Munchie Attack, Thwaite, and Yars’ Revenge; Game On Expo Retro Championships 2015 includes Meteor Swarm, Pedal to the Metal, and a special demo edition of Sydney Hunter; Garage Cart includes Hot Seat Harry, Munchie Attack, and Solar Wars; HBWC 2012 includes Chunkout 2, NES Virus Cleaner, Seagull’s Revenge, Slappin’, and Ultimate Frogger Champion; MGC Arcade Pack includes Convention Quest, NNNNNN, Spacey McRacey, and Super Homebrew War.

Art App Rankings

Top Apps

Art Apps: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | Color a Deer, Pubby (^)
🔘 | GalleryNES, Miller [No Carrier] (^)
🔘 | GlitchNES, Miller [No Carrier] (^)
🔘 | Graphics Editor, Yerrick (^)
🔘 | Lightwall, Green (^)
🔘 | NES Paint, KHS (^)
🔘 | NESpix, Morphcat (^)
🔘 | Paint or Draw, Fraker (^)
🔘 | Palettician, RG59 (^)
🔘 | Pixel Art Editor, Baraso (^)
🔘 | Power Coloring, Parker / retroUSB (^)
🔘 | Random Access, Miller [No Carrier] (^)

🎴 Complete-in-Box Art Apps

Power Coloring
Turtle Paint

° This entry—and this ranking—correspond to the original NES ROM of Retro Puzzle Maker. The app has now been built out to constitute a full web-based application that, while excellent, isn’t (because of its form) eligible for this ranking of indie NES apps.

Hack Rankings

{Note: There’s a fine line between the categories below, which are not arranged by value. Some gamers prefer hacks that are like new games, while others want hacks to be games they already love that have been significantly improved. There are no right answers when it comes to what a “hack” should achieve. Retro here ranks the Top 20 hacks on the basis of their quality, cross-indexed with how close they are to being the equivalent of original NES games. Because of the difficulty of ranking hanks, the below lists also use numerals to indicate how many experts of seventeen consulted ranked the hack in question as being among the best. Note that there are more than 1,000 NES hacks, so for a hack to even be named by two or three experts is striking.}

Top Hacks: Original Game Equivalents°

📒 #1 | 9 | Mario Adventure (^)
📒 #2 | 6 | Metroid: Rogue Dawn (^)
📒 #3 | 5 | Super Mario Bros. 3mix (^)
📒 #4 | 3 | Dragoon X Omega II (^)°°
📒 #5 | 4 | Deadpool (^)°°
📒 #6 | 4 | Mega Man in the Mushroom Kingdom (^)
📒 #7 | 1 | The Legend of Iowa (^) 🅰️
📒 #8 | 1 | Dragoon X Omega (^)°°
📒 #9 | 5 | The Legend of Zelda: Outlands (^)
📒 #10 | 6 | Castlevania: The Holy Relics (^)
📒 #11 | 4 | Extra Mario Bros. (^)
📒 #12 | 6 | Castlevania: Chorus of Mysteries (^)
📒 #13 | 3 | Beatles: Adventures in Pepperland (^)
📒 #14 | 3 | The Legend of Link (^)
📒 #15 | 3 | Super Mario Bros. Unlimited Deluxe (^)
📒 #16 | 3 | Super Mario Ultimate (^)°°
📒 #17 | 1 | Byte’s Adventure (^)
📒 #18 | 2 | Legend of Zelda: Link’s Shadow (^)
📒 #19 | 6 | Rockman 4: Minus Infinity (^)
📒 #20 | 3 | Rockman 2: No Constancy (^)

Original Game Equivalents: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | 1 | Castlevania: Castlevania 5 Legacy
🔘 | 1 | The Legend of Zelda: The Trial of Courage
🔘 | 1 | Mega Man: Limbo Edition
🔘 | 1 | Pony Quest
🔘 | 1 | Puresabe Kirby’s Adventure
🔘 | 1 | Shin Zelda Densetsu Final
🔘 | 1 | Spaceweed (^)°°
🔘 | 1 | TetrisGYM (^)
🔘 | 1 | Zelda II: The Adventure of Link 2
🔘 | 1 | Zelda II: Amida’s Curse
🔘 | 1 | Zelda II: Part 2

Category D Hacks: Primarily Cosmetic Alterations to Existing Games

Category F Hacks: Expansions of One-Player Games to Co-Op Games

🎴 Complete-in-Box Hacks°°°

Castlevania: The Holy Relics
Deadpool
The Legend of Link
The Legend of Zelda: Outlands
Mario Adventure
Mega Man 2: Rockman No Constancy
Metroid: Rogue Dawn
Shin Zelda Densetsu Final
Super Mario Bros. 3mix
Super Mario Bros.: Unlimited Deluxe

° Extra Mario Bros. is a mash-up of Super Mario Bros. and Metroid; Mega Man in the Mushroom Kingdom is a mash-up of the Super Mario Bros. and Mega Man games; The Legend of Banjo is a mash-up of The Legend of Zelda and Banjo Kazooie; Byte’s Adventure mashes up many different franchises, from Super Mario Bros. to The Legend of Zelda to Mega Man (leaning most heavily on the last of these three series). The Beatles: Adventures in Pepperland is partly a sprite hack of Super Mario Bros. 2.

°° The source material for these games is as follows: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Power Blade and Power Blade 2; Royal Flush: Princess Side Story, Super Mario Bros. 3; Super Smash Bros., Nekketsu Kakutou Densetsu; Dragoon X Omega II, Final Fantasy; Super Mario Fantasy Adventure, Final Fantasy; Dragoon X Omega, Dragon Warrior; Hyrule Warriors, Gauntlet; R-Type X, Magic Dragon (Famicom); Metroid: Dark Alliance, Blaster Master; Deadpool, Ninja Gaiden; Sonic the Hedgehog, Somari; Street Fighter II, Street Fighter III (Famicom); Super Mario Ultimate, Super Mario Bros. 3; Bomber Mario, Bomberman and the Super Mario franchise; Batman Bros., Super Mario Bros. and the Batman franchise; Ricky & Morty, Alien Syndrome; Spaceweed, Section Z.

°°° Ranked and honorable mention games—“Category A” hacks, above—only.

Sources (17): Captain Jack (I, II); CBR; Denver Gamer (I, II); Fandom Spot; I Heart Una; The New Retro Show; PC Mag; Portal of Awesome; Recommended Games Wiki; Reddit; Requiem Homebrew; Retro; Retro Dodo; RetroPie; RomHam; SNESdrunk; and Ultra Mega Blob Man (I, IV).

Multicart Rankings

Top Multicarts

📒 #1 | Mojonian Tales, Mojon Twins (^)
📒 #2 | Battle Kid 2-in-1, RetroUSB (^)°
📒 #3 | Gradual Games 2-in-1, Gradual Games (^)°
📒 #4 | Perkele, Donkey Games (^)°

Multicarts: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | 3-in-1 2P Pack, Sly Dog (^)°°
🔘 | 4-in-1 Retro Gamepak, Hanley (^)°°
🔘 | 4-in-1 Slasher Pack, Fista Games (^)°°
🔘 | Geminim & Siamond, Sivak (^)

Tier 3: Other Multicarts

PowerPlayer 3-in-1 (^)°°

🎴 Complete-in-Box Multicarts

3-in-1 2P Pack
4-in-1 Retro Gamepak°°
Battle Kid 2-in-1
Geminim & Siamond
Gradual Games 2-in-1
Mojonian Tales°°°
Perkele

° Battle Kid 2-in-1 contains Battle Kid and Battle Kid 2. Gradual Games 2-in-1 contains The Legends of Owlia and Nomolos: Storming the Catsle. One of the three indie NES games on the Perkele cart, Winter War, can be—but need not be—played using an NES Zapper (🔫).
°° 3-in-1 2P Pack includes !CLIK! (better known as NES Virus Cleaner), Pegs, and Tic-Tac XO; PowerPlayer 3-in-1 includes Hanuman Quiz Game, Hanuman Typing Game, and Malaria; 4-in-1 Retro Gamepak includes E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, Fishing Challenge, Sneak n’ Peek, and Ultimate Frogger Champion, all by Kevin Hanley of KHAN Games (a publisher pronounced as the two-syllable word “KAY-HAN”, with “han” rhyming with “ban,” “ran,” or “tan”). 4-in-1 Slasher Pack includes Friday the 13th: Return to Camp Blood, Halloween: October 31st, Nightmare on Elm Street: Son of a Hundred Maniacs, and Candyman: Be My Victim.
°°° Contains “20+” Mojon Twins games, including all of those listed in this ranking.

Music Cart Rankings

Top Carts

📒 #1 | Quiet, Ragonnet [Zi] (^)
📒 #2 | Dawn Metropolis, Anamanaguchi (^)
📒 #3 | Silicon Statue, Ragonnet [Zi] (^)
📒 #4 | Thornby, Ragonnet [Zi] (^)
📒 #5 | 8-Bit Music Power Final, RIKI (^)
📒 #6 | 8-Bit Music Power, RIKI (^)
📒 #7 | Goofy Foot, Swedish Columbia (^)
📒 #8 | 9999 in 1, Nuclear Mushroom Boom (^)
📒 #9 | NOFX, HeavyW8Bit (^)
📒 #10 | Vegavox 2, Mauer (^)
📒 #11 | Endless Fantasy, Anamanaguchi (^)
📒 #12 | Moon8, Smith (^)
📒 #13 | Project PAL, Kreese/Zabutom/Wiklund (^)
📒 #14 | Curious Quail, Petriform (^)
📒 #15 | 8-Bit Music Power Encore, RIKI (^)
📒 #16 | Duck Tails, Puzzle Boys (^)
📒 #17 | Four, Ragonnet [Zi] (^)
📒 #18 | Power Supply, Anamanaguchi (^)
📒 #19 | Years Behind, Retrocoders (^)°
📒 #20 | Fie, Ragonnet [Zi] (^)
📒 #21 | 2A03 Puritans, BitPuritans / Smith (^)
📒 #22 | Mom My Ears Are Bleeding, Various (^)
📒 #23 | Polygondwanaland: Edition 2, 5Seven (^)
📒 #24 | Record Player, EdCom (^) 🔹
📒 #25 | VGM Collection, Aqua Snake (^) 🔹

Music Carts: Honorable Mentions

Tier 3: Other Music Carts

8-Bit Riki Illustrations (^)
32 Bytes Your Butt (^)
Color Caves (^)
Goldrunner (^)
Holly Jolly (^)
Lickshot (^)
Mandelbrot Set (^)
NES Band (^)
Reformat/Reboot (^)°°
Retrogathering (^)
Sunny Dance (^)

🎴 Complete-in-Box Music Carts

8-Bit Music Power
8-Bit Music Power Final
A Hole New World (OST)
A Winner Is You
Alwa’s Awakening (OST)
Chip Maestro
Creeping It Real
Goofy Foot: Power Chiptunes
Holly Jolly NES Mix
Journey
Polygondwanaland
RNDM NES Album
Teletime: Animalstyle

° If played on an emulator, the emulator’s Region setting must be changed to “PAL.”
°° An NES music cart comes with an expansion audio chip so that this non-8-bit LP can be played—and heard in its original form—on an NES. See here for more details.

Music App Rankings

Top Apps

Music Apps: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | CajoNES, Baldwin (^)
🔘 | LogoNES, Miller [No Carrier] (^)
🔘 | ScrollNES, Miller [No Carrier] (^)
🔘 | Speech Synthesizer, Parsell (^)

Tier 3: Other Music Apps

droNES
liveNES (^)

° A direct successor to (and evolution of) NRTQ, PULSAR, is intended to allow the user to sequence and synthesize sounds directly on an NES console.

Port Rankings

{Note: This section ranks games that meet both of two criteria: (a) the game is an NES port of a game originally from a generation of game consoles preceding or succeeding the generation the NES is from (the third generation), and (b) the game is a non-simultaneous port, meaning it has not been been published in conjunction with many variations of the game intended for different consoles. So, for instance, an NES demake of a fourth- or subsequent-generation game, or an NES remake of a first-/second-generation game, would appear below; in contrast, an NES homebrew that is simultaneously/near-simultaneously being published by a publisher across a range of different-generation consoles would appear in the genre rankings, above.

The reason Retro now offers a discrete ranking for ports is to be fair to these games—which are best compared to one another rather than non-port homebrews. Typically, games that are the subject of remakes or demakes are among history’s most beloved video games, making it hard to disentangle them from their original versions when ranking them alongside homebrews with no predecessor, historical subtext or existing cachet. By the same token, developing a port brings unique challenges with it that center on efforts to preserve the source material’s existing gameplay components. Retro is a fan of ports, and for this and the preceding reasons thinks that they deserve their own discrete ranking in the Retro Top 500 NES Homebrews ranking.

A home computer’s equivalent “generation” is determined by whether or not it was a part of the 8-bit generation of computing. Because some ports aren’t self-evidently ports, or originally appeared on rather obscure hardware, this section is necessarily a long-term work-in-progress. Retro asks subscribers to comment below if a homebrew that should be in this section isn’t.}

Top Ports

📒 #1 | Jim Power: Lost Dimension, Piko (^)
📒 #2 | Street Fighter II Champion, Twin Eagles (^)
📒 #3 | Street Fighter Alpha Zero, Hummer (^)
📒 #4 | Diablo II, Shenzhen Nanjing (^)
📒 #5 | Glider, retroUSB (^)
📒 #6 | More Glider, retroUSB (^)
📒 #7 | Pokémon Yellow, Shenzhen Nanjing (^)°
📒 #8 | Pokémon Diamond, Jinkotai (^/^)°
📒 #9 | Indivisible, Kasumi (^)
📒 #10 | Resident Evil, Waixing (^)°°
📒 #11 | Final Fantasy VII, Shenzhen Nanjing (^)°
📒 #12 | Famidash, Kandowontu (^) 🔹
📒 #13 | Famicom de Pon, Okunyon (^)
📒 #14 | Bomb Sweeper, SnowBro (^)
📒 #15 | Crillion, Kevin81 (^)
📒 #16 | Scramble, Hanley (^)
📒 #17 | Dark Seed, Yancheng (^)°°°
📒 #18 | The Binding of Isaac, Nasdalack (^)
📒 #19 | Fearless, Pacnsac Games (^)°
📒 #20 | Plants vs. Zombies, Nice Code (^)°
📒 #21 | Steins Gate, MAGES (^)°
📒 #22 | Earthworm Jim, Hummer (^)
📒 #23 | Pac-Man, Namco (^)
📒 #24 | Tekken 2, JY (^)
📒 #25 | Hunt the Wumpus, Wright (^) 🔹
📒 #26 | Super Donkey Kong 2, NT (^)
📒 #27 | DK2: Jumpman Returns, Kulczycki (^)
📒 #28 | Planet Smashers, Requiem Homebrew (^)
📒 #29 | Pepsiman, Metro-Cross (^)
📒 #30 | Ultimate Frogger Champion, Hanley (^)
📒 #31 | Wall Kickers, Plewe (^)
📒 #32 | Pitfall, Neverware (^)
📒 #33 | Gaplus, M2 / Bandai Namco (^)
📒 #34 | Gravitar, Requiem Homebrew (^)
📒 #35 | Asteroids, Requiem Homebrew (^)
📒 #36 | Centipede, Requiem Homebrew (^)
📒 #37 | 99 Layers, Nagi-P Soft (^)
📒 #38 | SplatooD, der Zauberer (^)
📒 #39 | Bomberman 2002, Alien Tech (^)
📒 #40 | Aerial Warfare, Nice Code (^)
📒 #41 | Tortoises, FG Soft (^)
📒 #42 | Angry Birds, Nice Code (^)

Ports: Honorable Mentions

Tier 3: Other Ports

Crystal Castles (^)
Eatfish (^)
Mouser II
Night Driver (^)
Warlords (^)

🎴 Complete-in-Box Ports

Adventure
Bomb Sweeper
Earthworm Jim
E.T.: The Extraterrestrial
Final Fantasy VII
Glider
Jim Power: Lost Dimension
Larry & the Long Look for a Luscious Lover
Pepsiman
Pokémon Yellow
Resident Evil°°
Scramble
Sneak n’ Peek
Solaris
Tortoises
Ultimate Frogger Champion

° English patch available online.
°° Sometimes known, in its NES-port form, as Bio Hazard.
°°° A patch is required to play this ROM in English. This patch is under development.

Serialized Game Rankings

Top Serials

📒 #1 | Allison of Astra, Partridge (^)

Tech Demo Rankings

Top Demos

Tech Demos: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | Rotozoom, FG Soft (^)
🔘 | Sayoonara, Covell (^)
🔘 | Signal Test, Caudel (^) 🔹

Tier 3: Other Tech Demos

Super Stalin Bros. (^)

🎴 Complete-in-Box Tech Demos

Bad Apple

Untranslated Cart Rankings

{Note: This section contains games only available as a Famicom cart. Famicom homebrews that have been made available as NES-compatible ROMs are ranked above by genre. Because of the difficulty in accessing these carts, the rankings below are only an approximation based on game descriptions, news articles, screenshots, longplays, reviews, and developer interviews. These games are not counted toward the Retro Top 500, but are counted toward the total library of this archive. If or when any of these games are ported to the NES or become legally made ROMs, the game(s) in question will be moved to the Retro Top 500 rankings, above.}

Top Untranslated Carts

📒 #1 | Cross-Strait Independence, ITG (^)°°°
📒 #2 | Ilevan, Tulip House (^)
📒 #3 | Hungry Ghost Night, ITG (^)
📒 #4 | F-Θ (F-THETA), Little Sound (^) 🅰️
📒 #5 | Utakata Synopsis, Little Sound (^) 🅰️
📒 #6 | Dragon Boat Festival, ITG (^)
📒 #7 | Foal’s Creek, Guyver (^)° 🔹
📒 #8 | Chinese New Year Adventure, ITG (^)
📒 #9 | Peace, Love, Trippy Club, ITG (^)
📒 #10 | Nearly Eastern Story, Jiyugiga (^)
📒 #11 | NES Rocky Theme, Habit Soft (^)
📒 #12 | Pirate Pop OST, Dadako (^)

Untranslated Carts: Honorable Mentions

🔘 | DENDYCompo II, 8081 Netlabel (^)

Tier 3: Other Untranslated Carts

Southern Taiwanese Haunted House (^)
Leopard Cat (^)
Piss the Fish (^)°°°°

📢 Forthcoming Untranslated Carts

Fighting HRD, Impact Soft (^)
HaraForce, Impact Soft
Hot Pot Runs, FC Gamer (^)

⚙️ Untranslated Ports

Pokémon 4-in-1, Martian Electronics (^)
Pokémon Crystal, Mars (^)
Pokémon Diamond I, Jncota (^)
Pokémon Diamond II, Jncota (^)
Pokémon Gold, Mars (^)
Pokémon Leaf Green I, Hengge (^)
Pokémon Leaf Green II, Hengge (^)
Pokémon Leaf Green III, Hengge (^)
Pokémon Ruby I, Hengge (^)
Pokémon Ruby II, Hengge (^)
Pokémon Ruby III, Hengge (^)
Pokémon Sapphire, NJ (^)

🎴 Complete-in-Box Untranslated Games

Chinese New Year Adventure°
Cross-Strait Independence°/°°
Dragon Boat Festival°
F-Θ (F-THETA)°
Hungry Ghost Night°
Ilevan°
Peace, Love, Trippy Club°
Utakata Synopsis°

° Available in Famicom edition only (Chinese New Year Adventure); available in Russian-language ROM only (Foal’s Creek).
°° You can watch some gameplay footage of this game at this link.
°°° This appears to be the same game as Never Say Die, whose website is at this link.
°°°° Retro has not yet had the opportunity to review this Famicom homebrew.

Utility Rankings

Top Utilities

📒 #1 | ConnectedNES, Weil (^)

Utilities: Honorable Mentions

Tier 3: Other Utilities

Brainf*ck Interpreter (^)
Power Glove DevKit
Social Media Bros.