Board 8's Top 20 NES Games - The Results

#12. Castlevania (1986)
Total Points: 31
List Appearances: 17
First-Place Votes: 0
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Write-up provided by Snake5555555555
The classic gothic horror side-scroller, kickstarting one of the biggest franchises in gaming. Castlevania deserves praise for not only establishing a test of skill and memorization that would define the "Nintendo Hard" formula, but for its monster-infested castle drawing on all manner of classic horror tropes, bringing the idea of horror games a step further into the mainstream. Technically impressive for its time, Castlevania pushed the NES early on with detailed backgrounds, haunting music, and smooth character movement, and hidden secrets and power-ups rewarded exploration, all together combining for an experience I actually still find rather essential and exciting nearly 40 years on. It's definitely one of the first games I always think of when the NES is brought up - it's addictive, challenging, atmospheric, and an essential, iconic part of the console's library that got me interested in playing and exploring NES & retro games in the first place over a decade ago when all I used to really know was modern games.