Retro NES Games – 4 Iconic Titles Worth Playing in 2025

The Nintendo Entertainment System may be decades old, but some of its games still hold up as timeless classics.

Whether you enjoy fast-paced shooters, action platformers, or even retro sports titles, these NES games deliver a mix of challenge, fun, and nostalgia that’s worth experiencing all over again. Below, I’ll highlight four favorites that continue to stand out in 2025.

The Table of Contents

4 Classic NES Games Still Worth Playing in 2025 

Ikari Warriors NES Game – Classic Run-and-Gun Shooter

Have you seen a Rambo movie? Okay, then you get the idea. Like the probably more famous NES game Commando, Ikari Warriors is a top-down, vertically scrolling shoot-em-up about foot soldiers. Unlike that game, your character in Ikari Warriors has a bandana and a friend. Co-op!

On the NES! Co-op games were a rarity, and that makes Ikari Warriors a lot of fun if you’re looking for an 8-bit shmup fix. Ammo was limited, which is an interesting twist for the genre, plus you can get in tanks.

Co-op tanks! On the NES! And helicopters! That you can never land! So you die! Bridges and other blockades and \bottlenecks added some spice to the slaughter, which is good because the graphics and sound weren’t winning any prizes.

Why Ikari Warriors NES Co-Op Still Shines in 2025

The reason to play Ikari Warriors today in 2025 is definitely for the gameplay, which is a fun nostalgia trip made better by the ability to run through it (and die, early and often) with a friend.

Be warned, though: even for an NES game, Ikari Warriors is hard. I’m pretty sure I never beat this game, but the fact that I had to think about it reminds me that I didn’t care at the time—this is a game you play because it’s fun, not because something amazing happens at the end. Although looking up the ending now, it sounds pretty bizarre, making me extra sure I never saw it.

Batman NES Video Game – Action Platformer Classic

Batman The Video Game is the first game I remember playing where I got to vicariously be a favorite character from movies or comics. It was so fun. Coming relatively late in the NES’s life cycle (1990), Batman has some pretty robust features for a side-scrolling action platformer.

You can wall jump and throw batarangs, and Batman’s sprite looks badass. You don’t have to jump over every enemy in sight in this platformer. Are you comin' at me, bro? How about I PUNCH YOU UNTIL YOU DISAPPEAR.

Batman NES Story & Tim Burton Movie Connection

(ever so loosely) based on the Batman The Movie Tim Burton film which featured Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as the Joker.

Movie tiess come across only occasionally (mostly in cutscenes, which were not bad for their day, especially since they could conjure up memories of a super-stylish movie), as the levels and enemies have more to do with platforming than with mirroring the film.

That’s alright, though—with so many licensed games before and since just providing a soulless copy of a much better movie (etc.), I’ll take a fun game that only halfheartedly tries to be the movie it’s licensed from. If you like Castlevania and/or Batman, this game is worth a try. Also, while it’s not an easy game, it’s definitely more winnable than Ikari Warriors. More middle-of-the-road NES-tough.

Tecmo Bowl NES Game – The Best Football Experience of the 8-Bit Era

As a lifelong Chicago Bears fan, Tecmo Bowl holds a special place in my heart. The game came out shortly after the Bears’ legendary 1985 Super Bowl victory, and it featured many of the stars from that iconic team. Naturally, I always picked Chicago—why wouldn’t I? Walter Payton was nearly as unstoppable in the game as Bo Jackson, and the Bears’ defense was just as dominant as it had been in real life.

My friends and I rented Tecmo Bowl constantly from our local video store until I finally saved enough from my paper route to buy it myself. I still own that original copy—complete in the box—from when I purchased it back in 1989.

Why Tecmo Bowl Stood Out on the NES

What made Tecmo Bowl special was that it didn’t “suck” like so many other early football games. It had real replay value. You could go head-to-head with a friend, or you could take a single team through an entire season, working your way toward the “Tecmo Bowl”—essentially the Super Bowl.

Of course, the Raiders were a popular choice thanks to Bo Jackson, who was virtually unstoppable on the field. If you’re not old enough to remember Bo, he wasn’t just a football star for the Raiders, he was also a two-sport legend, dominating baseball with the Kansas City Royals.

The 49ers were another powerhouse option, boasting Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, John Taylor, and Roger Craig—perfect for anyone who loved the passing game.

For me, though, Tecmo Bowl easily became one of my all-time favorites on the NES. The gameplay felt smoother and more polished than any other football title on the console, making it, in my opinion, the best football experience the 8-bit era had to offer.

Here is some awesome gameplay of the Walter Payton's Chicago Bears Vs Bo Jackson's L.A. Raiders

Rygar NES Game – Cult Classic Adventure

When I was a kid I played this game at a friend’s house and became so obsessed with it that it was all I wanted for my birthday (or Christmas?) one year, probably in like 1988 or 1989, long after the game was unlikely to be widely available in stores.

So my poor dad scoured the city looking for this game in those dark, pre-internet days, calling into the old media (radio) version of Craigslist, a show called “Swap Shop” where you could explain something you wanted to buy or sell and leave contact info for listeners to follow up on.

I don’t think he had to go so far as to take out an ad in the paper. But he got the game somehow, which was pretty awesome of him. Point being, 1) I was really into this game and 2) I’m so glad we decided to go ahead and have the internet.

Why Rygar NES Game Stands Out Among Retro Titles

It was an early (1987) open-world game whose side-scrolling action-platformer gameplay (top-down in the overworld, for a nice change of pace) focused on getting power-ups (like extra health or stronger attack) and gear such as a grappling hook and a crossbow that would help you reach new areas (like Metroid or The Legend of Zelda).

Rygar NES Weapon – The Iconic Diskarmor Shield

It was a spinning killer shield attached to a chain (not unlike Kratos’s blades later on…), which was pretty cool. Though now that I think about it, it did zero good as a shield that I can recall, so I guess it just looked like a shield. Whatever. It was neat coming across areas you couldn’t access yet and having to remember and then return once you had the right item, and traversing even familiar stages stayed fresh as new tools opened up new routes and additional areas.

Rygar NES Limitations – No Save System & High Difficulty

This being a 1987 game, there’s no way to save, so you should plan on having your NES running for at least 3-4 hours if you want to beat it. The final world is a floating castle or continent, which gives a nice epic feeling of accomplishment (though the actual ending after the final boss is underwhelming in typical NES style).

Rygar also has, in my opinion, some of the most underappreciated music of its console generation. Nearly every song has a catchiness that transcends the limitations of its 8-bit home. And yet, in true early-gaming fashion, the composer (like pretty much everyone else making the game) didn’t get credited—though thanks to the internet I was able to ID Masuko Tsukasa (増子司) as the composer.

Rygar was kind of a cult classic, never achieving wide recognition, so it was surprising to me that the game was rebooted in a well-received PS2 version in 2002 (followed by a terribly-received Wii remake of the PS2 game in 2009).

The Retro Wrap Up & And a few NES Games Worth Playing in 2025

You may have missed that I think you should go out and play. They’re short and fun, so what do you have to lose (other than countless player-character lives)? Still, these only scratch the surface of the underappreciated gems of gaming eras gone by.

What old nes games do you think deserve to be resurrected in the public consciousness, for the NES or other platforms? What makes them worth returning to in 2025?

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