“Video games have certainly evolved over the last 20 years. In the early Nintendo Entertainment System days, you would be lucky if the game had more than one repetitive level. Graphics were based on an 8-bit system, leaving everything jagged and blocky. Sound was based on the same limitations, meaning game soundtracks were comprised of low quality MIDI files.”
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Video games have certainly evolved over the last 20 years. In the early Nintendo Entertainment System days, you would be lucky if the game had more than one repetitive level.

Graphics were based on an 8-bit system, leaving everything jagged and blocky. Sound was based on the same limitations, meaning game soundtracks were comprised of low quality MIDI files.

Now warp whistle your way into modern-day gaming and you find it hard to believe that you once found guiding a plumber over some rolling barrels a form of entertainment. Games are treated as masterpieces.

An original NES game might take up 200 kilobytes of information. A PS3 Blu-ray disk can hold 50 gigabytes of data, or 262,144 copies of that original NES game.

But bigger isn’t necessarily better. To truly appreciate modern video games, you should be familiar with the games of long-forgotten systems.

Here are the top 10 games you should have owned or at least rented, starting with the honorable mention and counting down to No. 1.

Honorable Mention: Red Faction, PS2 (2001).

This was the first game to allow the player to destroy the environment. Instead of having a predetermined reaction, a wall could be burrowed into by using explosives. The only thing keeping this game out of the top 10 is the inconsistency by which items could be destroyed. And the sequel really sucked.

10: Earthworm Jim, SNES (1994).

This was one of the first games to use the environment interactively. Jim could use his worm head like a whip to attack enemies or to latch on to a hook in order to swing to a new platform. The game also allowed for just about anything to be used as a weapon. Catapulting a cow at someone was priceless.

9: RBI Baseball, NES (1988).

The developer didn’t have the proper licensing to use MLB team logos or names, but there were actual players. There were only eight teams and most of the players in the game weren’t actually on those teams, but this game was one of the first to prove that a sports game could be a success.

8: Mega Man 2, NES (1989)

Mega Man is one of the longest running game series in history and it was Mega Man 2 that really vaulted a genre of side-scrolling games that actually took strategy to play. Use the fire power on the ice boss, the saw power on the wood boss. Common sense made this game great.

7: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Nintendo 64 (1998).

This wasn’t the first Zelda game, but it was the most original. The series was finally able to break away from the overhead view and it never looked back. Ocarina of Time truly tested a player’s ability to figure out puzzles in a 3-D environment. Plus, for no reason, you could go fishing in a pond.

6: Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Sega Genesis (1993).

This game was more about humor than it was defeating zombies. It was one of the first and only parody-based games made. Making fun of the old Night of the Living Dead movies was never more entertaining.

5: Mortal Kombat, Sega Genesis (1992)

With the release of Mortal Kombat on the Genesis came the start of violent video games. Packed with fatalities, there was more controversy over this game and its blood code than any game in history. Well, until number 4 was released.

4: Grand Theft Auto 3, Playstation 2 (2001).

Sure the game promoted shooting at cops, killing hookers and stealing cars, but it might have made it one of the most revolutionary games in history. GTA’s free roaming style has become the standard for any game that wants to be a mega hit. Being able to go from point A to point B your own way really made you feel like you were living in that virtual world.

3: Goldeneye 007, Nintendo 64 (1997).

Based on the James Bond movie by the same name, this game is one of the most important ever in terms of multiplayer. No longer did you have to sit alone playing a game. Up to four players could play in death matches. No game has brought people together quite like Goldeneye. The single player was great too. Memory limitations hindered it though, leading people to halfheartedly state that they would be willing to give up aspects of the game to keep the bodies you shot from disappearing. To this day, even while playing other games, people will state Man, I’d give up half of this game to make people stay in Goldeneye.

2: Super Mario Bros. 3, NES (1990).

This game converted non-video game fans into addicts and made already addicted gamers into even more reclusive social outcasts. There was something about being able to don a raccoon suit and gain the power to fly that kept people coming back. Try playing the game now without playing for six hours straight. It is impossible. Don’t use the warp whistles though, that’s just cheap.

1: Tecmo Super Bowl, NES (1991).

This game led to more fistfights between friends than any game ever has. If you were playing a friend, special rules had to be made. If you were playing by yourself, you felt sorry for the computer and because of one man, Bo Jackson.

Easily the greatest video game athlete ever, you could take a hand-off to Jackson at your opponent’s 1-yard line, run the ball back to your own end zone, turn around and run it 100 yards for a touchdown.

He was faster than anyone else and there was no stopping it. Playing this game in polite company, it was just understood that no one could be Bo Jackson’s Raiders.

This is the No. 1 game to have owned or rented, because for as long as video games exist, people will always know that in Tecmo Super Bowl, Bo Jackson was God and everyone should experience the ability to run end zone to end zone without the threat of being caught.

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