Best Nintendo Entertainment System games: 9 ranked (2026)
9 NES games ranked by the GamingPickz Score, a published composite of player sentiment and critic reception. The formula is below in full, and no placement on this page can be bought.
The short version
- Top pick: Sid Meier's Pirates!, GamingPickz Score 8.1/10 from 7,535 player reviews and a critic aggregate of 88.
- 0 score 8.5 or above out of 9 ranked NES games.
- Price range $3.74 to $19.99, median $11.99.
- 5 are Steam Deck Verified by Valve's own testing.
- 3 declare six or more accessibility features. Listed per game below.
Why trust this list
Most "best games" lists are either one person's taste presented as fact, or an affiliate feed with the highest commission at the top. This is neither. It is a ranking of 9 NES games computed from two third-party signals we did not generate, using a formula printed below.
Our team has played and reviewed games for over twenty years, somewhere around 3,000 titles across every generation since the PS1. A good number of the NES games on this page are among them, and that experience is what lets us tell you which of these numbers are worth trusting.
It is not, however, what set the order. The formula did, and we think that is the right way round: a list ordered by one person's memory is a list you have to take on trust, and this one you can check line by line.
The order comes out of the grid. Every game in the catalogue is placed on eighteen measured axes, each one a number read from a named source rather than an opinion: player sentiment and its sample size, the critic aggregate, review volume, Wikipedia language editions, price, install size, Steam Deck rating, accessibility features. A ranked list is that grid collapsed to one dimension. The map further down this page plots these same 9 games on two of those axes, so you can see the position the ranking gave each one and check it against where the game actually sits. If the list and the map ever disagreed, the list would be wrong, and they read the same numbers so they cannot.
None of the entries on this page carry a full written review from us yet. The score reflects how other people received the game. Where we do publish a review, it is marked and linked.
Update history 1
- First published with 9 entries ranked.
At a glance
The top 9 side by side. Full entries below.
| # | Game | Best for | Score | Players | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sid Meier's Pirates! | A consistently well-received pick in this category | 8.1 | 94% (7,535) | $9.99 |
| 2 | Final Fantasy III | Handheld play, small install and Deck verified | 8.1 | 93% (2,841) | $17.99 |
| 3 | DuckTales | Handheld play, small install and Deck verified | 7.4 | 88% (7,930) | $3.74 |
| 4 | Final Fantasy II | Handheld play, small install and Deck verified | 7.4 | 82% (3,501) | $11.99 |
| 5 | Jackal | Handheld play, small install and Deck verified | 7.2 | 89% (585) | $14.99 |
| 6 | Maniac Mansion | A smaller game its players are unusually fond of | 7.1 | 88% (226) | $5.99 |
| 7 | The Bard's Tale | A smaller game its players are unusually fond of | 6.6 | 75% (1,453) | $19.99 |
| 8 | Karateka | A smaller game its players are unusually fond of | 6.4 | 72% (394) | $3.99 |
| 9 | Battletoads | Handheld play, small install and Deck verified | 6.2 | 68% (2,403) | $19.99 |
How we chose these
This ranking is a projection of the same axes the grid plots, not a second scoring system sitting alongside it. The grid answers where a game sits on two chosen measures; a ranked list needs one number, so the axes are collapsed using published weights. A game cannot be high on the grid and low here for a reason nobody can point at, because both read the same values.
Every ranked game gets a GamingPickz Score out of 10. It is a weighted blend of the axes below, and these percentages are read directly from the code that computes the ranking rather than written out separately, so the published formula cannot drift from the applied one.
| Component | Weight | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Players | 55% | The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000. |
| Critics | 25% | Metacritic and OpenCritic aggregate, normalised to 0 to 100. |
| Popularity | 20% | A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it. |
Shrinkage is the part that matters most. Without it a game with nine reviews at 100 percent outranks Half-Life 2 with 278,000 at 98. Player sentiment is pulled toward the catalogue average of 84 using a 400-review prior, in proportion to how thin the evidence is.
Popularity is deliberately a minority weight. At 20 percent it nudges well-known games up without letting fame decide the order. Weight it higher and the list becomes "games you have already heard of", which nobody needs a ranking for. Weight it at zero and a game almost nobody played can top the list on the strength of a few hundred enthusiastic reviews. Neither is useful, so it sits in between. How popularity is measured.
Where a game has no critic aggregate, that 35 percent is redistributed onto player sentiment rather than counted as zero, and the entry says so.
Games with fewer than 50 reviews are excluded outright. Shrinkage is symmetric, so a game sitting at 0 percent on one review would otherwise be pulled up near the average, which flatters something nobody has actually assessed.
What we deliberately do not do. No paid placement, no sponsored slots dressed as editorial, no hidden weighting. If sponsorship is ever introduced it will be labelled and will sit outside the ranking. The formula above is the whole formula.
The NES games on a map
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 9 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
9 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 9 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- Mobile
- Nintendo
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
How to choose between these
9 entries, six things that separate them
The ranking answers "which is best received". It cannot answer "which is best for you", because that depends on things no formula knows. Here is what actually separates these 9 NES games, in the order worth thinking about it.
Check the sample size before the score
A score is only as good as the evidence under it. 0 of these have more than 50,000 player reviews, which makes their number very hard to move. 4 sit under 2,000, so their position is provisional and pulled heavily toward the catalogue average. Every entry below shows its own count.
Look at where critics and players disagree
The widest gap here is DuckTales, where players sit above critics by 22 points. A gap that size usually means the game changed after launch, or that it does something critics undervalue. It is worth reading why before deciding which number you trust. The disagreement map plots this across the catalogue.
Decide what you are actually willing to spend
The median here is $11.99, and the cheapest paid entry is DuckTales at $3.74. Prices move constantly, so a game a place or two down the list is often the better buy this week. Filter by price below rather than assuming the top pick is the right purchase.
Match it to the hardware you own
5 of these are Steam Deck Verified by Valve's own testing, and install sizes vary by more than an order of magnitude. If you are choosing for a handheld or a drive that is nearly full, that narrows the field faster than any score.
Check it supports how you want to play
Solo, with a friend online, or two people on one sofa are different requirements, and a well-reviewed game that does not support yours is the wrong game. The filters below answer this directly.
Look for the things a score hides
3 declare six or more accessibility features, and 0 carry in-game purchases. Neither shows up in a review score, and both change the experience substantially. Each entry lists its own.
Choose one if…
Tick what matters to you. This filters the ranking above rather than reordering it, so the order you see is still the order the formula produced, minus the games that do not fit. Every filter reads a field from the game's own store listing.
Nothing selected, so all 9 NES games are shown below. Pick one or more above to narrow it.
9 best NES games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
- 1
Sid Meier's Pirates!
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
8.1GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceSid Meier's Pirates! at a glance Released 1987 Studio MicroProse Player sentiment 94% positive of 7,535 Critics 88/100 Price $9.99 Steam Deck unsupported Install size Not stated Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 94% shrinks to 93.5 on 7,535 reviews, then blends with the 88 critic aggregate, giving 8.1.
Worth checking first- Valve rates it Unsupported on the Steam Deck.
- 2
Final Fantasy III
Best for: Handheld play, small install and Deck verified
8.1GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceFinal Fantasy III at a glance Released 1990 Studio Square Player sentiment 93% positive of 2,841 Critics No aggregate Price $17.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 1 GB Accessibility 6 declared features Raw 93% shrinks to 91.9 on 2,841 reviews, giving 8.1. No critics data, so that weight was redistributed across the rest rather than counted as zero.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- Small install at 1 GB.
- 3
DuckTales
Best for: Handheld play, small install and Deck verified
7.4GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceDuckTales at a glance Released 1989 Studio Capcom Player sentiment 88% positive of 7,930 Critics 66/100 Price $3.74 Steam Deck verified Install size 1 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 88% shrinks to 87.8 on 7,930 reviews, then blends with the 66 critic aggregate, giving 7.4.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- Small install at 1 GB.
Worth checking first- Players rate it well above critics, 88 against 66. Usually a sign it improved after launch, or that it delivers something reviewers undervalued.
- 4
Final Fantasy II
Best for: Handheld play, small install and Deck verified
7.4GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceFinal Fantasy II at a glance Released 1988 Studio Square Player sentiment 82% positive of 3,501 Critics No aggregate Price $11.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 1 GB Accessibility 6 declared features Raw 82% shrinks to 82.2 on 3,501 reviews, giving 7.4. No critics data, so that weight was redistributed across the rest rather than counted as zero.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- Small install at 1 GB.
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- 5
Jackal
Best for: Handheld play, small install and Deck verified
7.2GamingPickz Scorelow confidence, thin evidenceJackal at a glance Released 1988 Studio Konami Player sentiment 89% positive of 585 Critics No aggregate Price $14.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 0.2 GB Accessibility 7 declared features Raw 89% shrinks to 86.9 on 585 reviews, giving 7.2. No critics data, so that weight was redistributed across the rest rather than counted as zero.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- Declares 7 accessibility features, well above the catalogue norm.
- Small install at 0.2 GB.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- 6
Maniac Mansion
Best for: A smaller game its players are unusually fond of
7.1GamingPickz Scorelow confidence, thin evidenceManiac Mansion at a glance Released 1987 Studio Lucasfilm Games Player sentiment 88% positive of 226 Critics No aggregate Price $5.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 0.04 GB Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 88% shrinks to 85.3 on 226 reviews, giving 7.1. No critics data, so that weight was redistributed across the rest rather than counted as zero.
What the data supports- Small install at 0.04 GB.
Worth checking first- Only 226 reviews, so this score is pulled heavily toward the catalogue average and should be treated as provisional.
- 7
The Bard's Tale
Best for: A smaller game its players are unusually fond of
6.6GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceThe Bard's Tale at a glance Released 1985 Studio Interplay Entertainment Player sentiment 75% positive of 1,453 Critics 70/100 Price $19.99 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 75% shrinks to 76.9 on 1,453 reviews, then blends with the 70 critic aggregate, giving 6.6.
- 8
Karateka
Best for: A smaller game its players are unusually fond of
6.4GamingPickz Scorelow confidence, thin evidenceKarateka at a glance Released 1984 Studio Jordan Mechner Player sentiment 72% positive of 394 Critics No aggregate Price $3.99 Steam Deck unsupported Install size Not stated Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 72% shrinks to 77.9 on 394 reviews, giving 6.4. No critics data, so that weight was redistributed across the rest rather than counted as zero.
Worth checking first- Only 394 reviews, so this score is pulled heavily toward the catalogue average and should be treated as provisional.
- Valve rates it Unsupported on the Steam Deck.
- 9
Battletoads
Best for: Handheld play, small install and Deck verified
6.2GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceBattletoads at a glance Released 1991 Studio Rare Ltd. Player sentiment 68% positive of 2,403 Critics No aggregate Price $19.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 15 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 68% shrinks to 70.2 on 2,403 reviews, giving 6.2. No critics data, so that weight was redistributed across the rest rather than counted as zero.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
Nintendo Entertainment System games by the numbers
The figures below describe all 9 entries on this page together, not the top pick. They are recomputed on every build, most recently on 2 September 2026, from 26,868 player reviews.
What the pricing looks like
9 of the 9 carry a listed US price, with a median of $11.99 and a mean of $12.07. The mean sitting above the median tells you the field is pulled up by a few expensive outliers. The cheapest is DuckTales at $3.74, the most expensive The Bard's Tale at $19.99. Prices are read hourly from the US Steam storefront and move constantly.
How much this field agrees with itself
Player sentiment spans 26 points across these 9 entries. That is a wide band, which means the position of an entry here genuinely matters rather than splitting hairs. 3 carry a critic aggregate, averaging 75 out of 100. Players rate this field 11 points higher than critics on average, which is worth knowing before you weigh either number. See where the two diverge.
Who makes them, and what they overlap with
The studios appearing most often here are Square (2), Capcom (1), Interplay Entertainment (1), Jordan Mechner (1) and Konami (1). The genres these entries also sit in are rpg (3), fps (1) and strategy (1), which is a fair map of what you are actually choosing between.
Which way attention is moving
We track Wikipedia pageviews over 28 days for 9 of these. 2 are gaining attention and 3 are losing it, with the rest flat. Attention is not quality, and we do not feed it into the ranking. The full monitor shows the movements across the catalogue.
Common questions
What is the best NES game?
Sid Meier's Pirates! ranks first, with a GamingPickz Score of 8.1 out of 10 drawn from 7,535 player reviews and a critic aggregate of 88. That is a statement about how it was received, not a claim that it is the one you personally will enjoy most.
How is this ranking calculated?
The GamingPickz Score is 55% player sentiment adjusted for sample size, 25% the critic aggregate published on the game store page, 20% popularity, from review volume and Wikipedia language editions. Player sentiment is pulled toward the catalogue average of 83.8% using a 400-review prior, so a game with a handful of reviews cannot outrank one with hundreds of thousands. Nothing on this page is paid for and no placement can be bought.
How many NES games are ranked here?
9 of them qualify. A game needs at least 50 player reviews to be scored, which excludes titles with too little evidence to place fairly.
Why is a game I love missing?
Three likely reasons. It has fewer than 50 player reviews, so it is excluded rather than ranked on noise. It has no Steam listing at all, which is normal for console and Nintendo exclusives. Or it is not in the catalogue yet.
Do you get paid for these placements?
No. Positions are computed from the formula above and nothing else. The site carries advertising, and advertisers can neither see nor influence this page. A position is not an endorsement, it is a measurement of reception.
How current is this?
Recomputed on every build from source data read on a stated date. This page was last rebuilt on 2 September 2026. Player review counts move daily, so positions in the middle of the list shift more than those at the top or bottom.
Reader comments
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