5 NES Games On Nintendo Switch Online That Are 10/10 Masterpieces

Published Aug 26, 2026, 8:01 AM EDT

Ewan is Deputy Editor for ScreenRant's gaming section. He still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase, and knows more about The Legend of Zelda and Doctor Who than is probably healthy.

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When the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) launched in 1986, it pretty much saved a dying video game industry, gave birth to some of the most iconic characters in gaming history, and changed the course of popular entertainment forever. Not a bad legacy to have, right? Fast-forward to 2026, and the NES still has its share of genuinely timeless masterpieces that are still great to play today, and a ton of them are available via Nintendo Switch Online.

Of course, you need to pay a monthly subscription to access the NES games on Nintendo Switch Online, but it's definitely worth it to experience some video game history. These are the five NES you can play via NSO now that remain 10/10 masterpieces.

5 Super Mario Bros.

Everything about the original Super Mario Bros. is perfection. It's easy to pick up and play, and to immediately understand what you need to do even if you've never held a video game controller before in your life. Despite the crude graphics and ancient sound chip, the Mushroom Kingdom and its denizens are full of life, and color. Everything that makes Mario who he is today started in this game. It's infectious, bright, and tons of fun. It gets a little tricky towards the end, sure, but save-states make these games way more accessible than ever before.

4 The Legend Of Zelda

Some people will tell you The Legend of Zelda doesn't hold up in 2026. Those people are wrong. If you're okay with not being led by the hand, this is an epic adventure that feels much grander than its 8-bit appearance would suggest. Hyrule is vast and dangerous, with tons of secrets and well-hidden treasures to find. Even if you do decide to use a guide, there's still tons of fun to be had in experiencing Link's first adventure and seeing where one of gaming's most respected series began.

3 Tetris

While the Game Boy version is definitely the best-known and most popular incarnation of Tetris, the NES version came first, and is more or less the same on the face of it, with a few key differences. For one, the NES Tetris might be a little bit easier, as the game features 20 rows compared to the Game Boy's 18. A few more opportunities to fail. There are some deeper mechanical differences to the level progression and block spawning, but unless you're a hardcore Tetris speedrunner or something, you don't need to worry about that. Just know this: it's Tetris.

2 Battletoads

Before Dark Souls, we had Battletoads. The 1991 beat-em-up platformer developed by Rare was a relentlessly punishing affair with some genuinely ludicrous difficulty spikes that required the reaction times of a pre-cog. The game's notorious hoverbike level meant many never got past the third stage, but if you persevered, there were 13 stages filled with new ideas and gameplay mechanics, an impressive achievement for the era.

1 Super Mario Bros. 3

While Super Mario Bros. has aged well and remains well worth playing in 2026, Super Mario Bros. 3 blows it out of the water in every possible way. The same formula of joyful platforming fun remains firmly in place, but we're treated to greatly improved graphics that turn Mario from a pile of pixels into an adorable round plumber, a greater variety of levels and bosses, and a world map filled with secrets and mini games. Were it not for the existence of Super Mario World, this would easily be the best 2D Mario game in existence.