The NES Turns 30 Today and Joey From WCYY’s List of the Top 5 NES Games Left Out Some Big Ones [VIDEO]

Joey over at our sister station WCYY shared his list of Top 5 NES games on the 30th anniversary of the classic video game console. There are some glaring omissions from his list however, so here's my list of the top 5 NES games. Move over Joey. This is how it's done.

It's hard to believe that 30 years ago I walked into Woolworth's in South Paris and bought with my hard earned minimum wage job money, a bright, shiny new Nintendo Entertainment System. It made my Atari 2600 look like Pong. Finally Donkey Kong looked like Donkey Kong in the arcade, not this:

It was awesome and still is. These games are timeless.

What are my top 5 games for the NES? Let's compare with Joey's list shall we?

1. SUPER MARIO BROS. 3 

Joey and I are in agreement here. In 1990 I was a freshman in college and picked up a copy of this game at Toys 'R Us in Bangor after seeing it in the movie "The Wizard" with Fred Savage and his Nintendo Power Glove. The movie was the first time Americans has seen Super Mario Bros. 3. There was no internet with YouTube videos of games only released in Japan at the time. The movie kind of sucked, but the climax with the unveiling of Super Mario 3's gameplay fueled the fire to make this the number one selling NES game of all time.

After being totally disappointed with Super Mario Bros. 2, this game returned to Super Mario's roots. Mario 2 went off the rails. Now Mario could fly! How cool was that! I skipped most of my first year of college playing this thing. No surprise I transferred the next year.

2. THE LEGEND OF ZELDA (1986)

Okay, Joey and I agree here too, but that's the end of our great minds thinking alike.

The Legend of Zelda was the first game ever where you could actually SAVE your game! This was unheard of in video game consoles. If you wanted to finish Super Mario Bros., you better not turn the game off or lose power or you were starting all over again.

My brother and a friend became obsessed with completing this. I went to bed and was woken up at 3AM by them as they were screaming that they finished it. It was the longest game we had ever played at the time and it was very satisfying to figure out what the old wizard meant when he said "Dodngo dislikes smoke."

3. CONTRA (1988)

Joey Picked Excitebike as his number 3. Meh. What's more exciting? Riding a motorcycle over jumps or kicking alien ass with your friend in the best co-op game ever for the NES? I'll take kicking alien ass any day.

This is one of those instances where I think the NES version of a game is better than the arcade. My brother and I would play this game for hours on end and I would exploit it's one flaw for co-op play. In the waterfall level, if you climbed up faster than your partner, he would be killed when he went off screen.  Since I was playing with my brother I took great joy in hearing that satisfying sound of his death and the screaming at me that would follow. It never got old.

It was crazy hard to finish with the few lives you were given, but if you had the cheat code you could play with 99 lives! Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start.

4. SUPER MARIO BROS. (1985)

Joey picked Mike Tyson's Punch Out for his number 4. That's a fine choice, but the original Super Mario Bros. needs to be on his list. This is the game that came with your NES. It set the bar for all video games after it. Sure, you were ready to beat that Strawberry Shortcake looking thing for saying once again "Our Princess is in another castle," but you still loved it.

5. Top Gun (1987)

Joey picked Maniac Mansion. I played it on the PC and it couldn't compare for me to classic adventures games like King's Quest and Space Quest. Flying a fighter jet like Maverick from Top Gun? I feel the need for speed!

Top Gun was made me feel like I was in the movie. I couldn't fly inverted and give someone the bird, but I could shoot down enemy planes and land on an aircraft carrier. The aircraft carrier landing was the most fun when you succeeded and the biggest letdown when you splashed into the ocean in front of it.

Happy birthday NES! You're still my favorite video game console of all time.

What are you favorite NES games? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter.