We're Sorry, but the Princess is in Another Castle...

A list with too many sports games. But these are the ones I played most.

1) Super Mario Bros. -- Classic. The Nirvana to Space Invaders' Rolling Stones. Remember when you were so good at it that you had all the bad guys' locations memorized and pressed the jump and run buttons by rote?
2) The Legend of Zelda -- First of all, the cartridge was gold. Sweet. That's balls, but it walked the walk that the gold talked. Secondly, it was full of secrets. The first role-playing game you could save that I ever played.
3) Super Tecmo Bowl -- The original is more a classic, but this installment comes in higher because the Bills are one of the best teams in it (I could get a sack with Bruce Smith on just about every single pass play), and I'm a Bills fan. Sure, Star Wars was first and holds a special place in my heart, but Empire is a better movie. It's like that.
4) Tecmo Bowl -- See the above. The automatic interception drops this a little more, as well. But it's still awesome. The first game I'm aware of that used players real names. And how awesome are Marcus Allen and Bo Jackson?
5) Contra -- Plain fun. Just awesome. If you are in your mid-twenties to early-thirties, there are 2 certainties: You are in love with Winnie Cooper and you know the Contra codes.
6) Super Mario Bros. 3 -- I love the second one, but it was really easy to beat. This game should probably be ranked higher. I remember seeing that Fred Savage movie where they play this in the big climactic scene -- the SMB3 Debutante Ball of sorts. That racoon tail thing was the greatest thing I had ever seen.
7) Mike Tyson Punch Out!! -- When Iron Mike was bad ass, and even your little sister could beat Glass Joe. I knew the "tell sign" leading to Super Macho Man's spin punch, but I could never beat him. Thus, I never entered the ring against Iron Mike.
8) Excite Bike -- Simple, but fun. And you could make up your own ridiculously-impossible races.
9) Super Volleyball -- An underrated game. Incredibly fun. Russia is good.
10) Ice Hockey -- Skinny guys are fast, Fat guys have Al Iafrate-esque slapshots, and the Medium guys are just kind of average. This probably doesn't deserve a top-10, but I love hockey so have an affinity for this game. Better than Blades of Steel, imo.

Hon. mention to Double Dragon, Mega Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Double Dribble (the dunks!). I was never that into Duck Hunt.