Released in the US in 1985, the NES was largely responsible for resurrecting a badly-damaged video game industry after Atari’s collapse several years prior. Aware that Atari’s earlier mistakes had left consumers wary of home video games, Nintendo cleverly designed the system to look more like a piece of high-end home theater equipment than a games console. Nintendo also included the smash hit “Super Mario Bros.” game with many NES systems, which eventually helped drive sales to a staggering 61,000,000+ systems sold, and over 700 officially-licensed games were published for the NES.

While the original Super Mario Bros. is probably the best-remembered NES game, the system was home to an incredible number of quality titles, including:

• Excitebike

• Metroid

• Kirby’s Adventure

• Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse

• Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream

• Contra

• The Legend of Zelda

• Super Mario Bros. 3