I'd like a list of NES games I should concentrate on -- i.e. which NES games should I try to beat?
I've beaten quite a number of hard games although there are some that are still on my "to-do" list. Please limit to US releases if possible. I don't really care to get into importing games.
Already Beaten (Only a small sample, not including games I consider easy unless they're games others commonly consider hard):
Abadox
Adventure Island 2
Adventure Island III
Adventures of Lolo
Adventures of Lolo 2
Air Fortress
Amagon
Back to the Future
Battletoads
Bionic Commando
Bucky O'Hare
Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout
Captain Skyhawk
Castlevania
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Caveman Games
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (both of them) (easy but others consider it hard)
Contra (one life, no deaths) (easy but others consider it hard)
Darkwing Duck
Duck Tales (both of them) (easy but others consider it hard)
Fantasy Zone
Fester's Quest
Hoops
Joe & Mac
Journey to Silius
Jurassic Park
Kabuku Quantum Fighter
Kirby's Adventure
Legend of Zelda
Legendary Wings
Life Force
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Marble Madness (easy but others consider it hard)
Mega Man (All six of them) (most are easy but others consider them hard)
Mickey's Mousecapade
Milon's Secret Castle
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
Ninja Gaiden (one life, no deaths)
Punch-Out!!
Puss 'n Boots: Pero's Great Adventure
Rad Gravity
Snake Rattle 'n Roll
Snow Brothers
Star Tropics
Super C (one life, no deaths) (easy but others consider it hard)
Super Mario Bros. (All three of them) (easy but rofl some people actually consider them hard)
TaleSpin
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project
The Simpsons (All three of them)
Tiny Toon Adventures (both of them) (second game is easy pie)
Trog
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Zelda II: Adventures of Link
Already on my 'To Do' list: (Games I've never beaten but consider worthy enough to try to beat)
Adventures of Lolo 3
Adventure Island
Batman
Battletoads & Double Dragon (Yep, I can beat Battletoads but not this one)
Bubble Bobble (I've beaten the DOS version of Bubble Bobble. Haven't really played the NES version)
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (Can get pretty far but never beaten on any path. Goal would be to beat on all paths.)
Double Dragon (All three games. Never beat any of them. Come the closest with the second game)
Dragon Warrior series (never played them)
Final Fantasy (believe it or not, never played it)
Gauntlet
Ghost Lion
Ghosts 'n Goblins (I can beat the arcade game but the NES version differs somewhat and haven't played the NES version much)
Gradius
Ice Climber (can get pretty far but not beat)
Isolated Warrior
Krusty's Fun House (I've beaten the SNES Krusty's Super Fun House. Never played this one)
Metal Gear (haven't played it much)
Metroid (haven't played it much)
Ninja Gaiden II & III (never beaten the sequels)
Paperboy (I don't think I've beaten this. I know I've beaten SNES Paperboy 2 though. I haven't played this one much)
Rampage (I'll need extremely good luck and dedication to beat this one!)
River City Ransom
Rygar (never played it)
Silver Surfer (never played it)
Star Tropics II: Zoda's Revenge (never played it)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (never played it)
Tom and Jerry
Xevious (never played it)
So with that out of the way, any recommendations for NES games I should add to my "To do" list? Games that are classically hard, which are beatable (no never-ending cycling last levels), and that are actually worth playing? For example, many Wisdom Tree/Colordreams games are hard but for all the wrong reasons and not worth playing, in addition to being expensive and rare games. Conan is hard but sucks because the controls totally suck, and thus isn't worth playing. Athena is hard but sucks because of lousy gameplay. Roadrunner is hard but sucks as it's basically memorize and take the correct paths which you must already know beforehand.
I legitimately think Rampage is one of the hardest NES games ever made, if you do it 1-player and don't use continues. Can anyone think of a legitimately harder NES game than Rampage?