20 Best NES Games Of All Time
3. Super Mario Bros.
The original Super Mario Bros. might just be the most important game ever made. It proved that games could be more than simple high score based affairs, and got people interested in gaming after Atari just kept releasing utter trash.
The game was exactly what the industry needed at that point in time. Super Mario Bros. was simple enough for anybody to understand yet has enough fun challenges later on to keep players engaged.
Whilst every future Mario game built upon what was established here there's still a nice variety of enemies, obstacles, and level themes.
Don't get me wrong, it's cool going through numerous locations in future Mario games, but Super Mario Bros. is short enough that the land theme, cave theme, water theme, castle theme, and sky theme are plenty enough to keep the title interesting.
The lack of many power-ups doesn't really matter here either. It's not designed around interesting power-ups, the game is designed around running and jumping and the three power-ups on offer here, the Fire Flower, the Super Mushroom, and the Starman all serve that purpose. They help you quickly eliminate the various foes so you can focus on what's important, running and jumping.