I actually wrote an article about this very question for a certain other site.
I'll just copy paste my part of the article here shall I?
10.
North and South (NES)Well I doubt that many people reading will know of this game. This was a strategy game set during the American Civil War, but it was hardly complex. Well it was simple enough for me to almost understand as a child. I spent most of my time with this game playing against my brother, who was even younger than me.
I don’t think I really understood much of what I was doing, but there was a map, where you captured certain points by running along a train or something, and placing a flag at the end. To fight for territory the two players were brought to a real time map screen, where they controlled cavalry units, cannons and infantry in an effort to emerge victorious. With any luck, I’ll now be able to understand the mechanics of the game much better than back then, and have even more fun with my brother again on the Virtual Console.
9.
Super Metroid (SNES)Now this was a groundbreaking game. Though I only had limited experience with it, what I did have was great, and the amazing quality of Metroid Fusion and other 2D Metroid games I’ve played, plus the great reviews and scores this game has attained, point to this game being an absolutely masterpiece. Really look forward to playing through this game, and forming my own conclusions.
8.
The Adventures of Lolo (NES)Well this is really a wildcard mention. As a child, I hired out a game which I never remembered the title to, but I remember it was pretty good fun. Doing a random wikipedia search for it the other day, I found it was The Adventure of Lolo, I just called it “Dot’s Adventure". Because, y’know, the main character was a dot. So yeah, I mainly want to revisit this game and find out whether it was actually any good.
7.
Golden Axe (Mega Drive)Choose from an axe-wielding dwarf, a long sword equipped amazon, or a barbaria with a broadsword, grab a second player, and play through side scrolling levels disposing of enemies with physical attacks and magical spells. It seems that co-op play is a continuing theme in my top ten, simply because playing through a game with a friend is infinitely more fun than playing alone. It may have been another side scrolling beat-em-up, but still it was fun, and another game I’d love to play again.
6.
The Lion King (Mega Drive)Everyone loved the Lion King. It’s a fact. And luckily for gamers, it also spawned a *good* game adaption! Well at least I remember it being pretty good. The game had your typical platforming levels, boss fights, and even an ‘into the screen’ level, re-enacting the stampede scene. It even came with pretty decent recreations of the film’s soundtrack as in-game music. Sadly this is another game I never managed to finish, and would love to be able to do so on the Wii’s Virtual console.
5.
Battletoads (Mega Drive)I remember going to my mate’s place across the road when I was younger, playing this game co-op for ages. It was just a whole lot of fun. Who needed to take notice of a storyline, you had two crazy toads, who went around kicking, punching, jumping and abseiling their way to the next level. With two players, this was a blast. Over exaggerated animations, crazy move and enemies just made this game a fun one to play. Who needs excessive realistic violence when you’ve got excessive cartoon violence?
4.
Snake Rattle and Roll (NES)Another one I remember hiring and playing as a child, this is one remembered for it’s pseudo-3D game play, and the ability for two players to play through the main game simultaneously. The main idea of the game was to eat enemies with your snake’s tongue, which increased in size with each enemy eaten, as well as your snake growing in size with each “Nibbly Pibbly” they eat. The goal was to eat enough Nibbly Pibblys to make your snake heavy enough to tip the scales at the end of each level and open the door to the next level. Unfortunately for me as a child, the difficulty of this game sets in quite early, only a few levels in, so I never really got hugely far in this game. With any luck I’ve improved somewhat by now, and might even be able to beat it if it were on Virtual Console!
3.
Kirby’s Fun Pak (SNES)Well, this could very well be the most complete Kirby game ever released. This game was a compilation of 9 Kirby games, most probably not long enough for a separate release, but when put together formed one hell of a collection. You had Spring Breeze, which was pretty much a nicer looking version of the GameBoy game Kirby’s Dreamland, The Great Cave Offensive which charged Kirby with exploring a series of levels scouring them for treasures, Revenge of Meta-Knight where Kirby races against time to destroy Meta-Knight’s ship before it can destroy Dreamland, which by memory ends with a quite spectacular boss scene.
Probably one of the best parts abut the platforming parts of this game, is that a friend with a second controller can join in, becoming a unique character based on the power Kirby discards. As well as this, the Pak featured a few small mini-games such as Samurai Kirby or Megaton Punch. Sadly, having never owned a SNES, I was only able to play this game thanks to friends who had the game, I’d really like to be able to play this completely through for myself, or even better, with a friend the whole way through!
2.
Kirby’s Adventure (NES)Now this was probably my number 1 favourite NES game way back when. The best part of this game for me was the ability to save my game so easily. I’d just turn off the NES and I’d be able to come back and start at the last level I’d completed. And then there was the huge variety in ways to play the game. The sheer amount of enemies Kirby could swallow and steal their powers was great, and experimenting with different powers even sometimes unlocked new areas within levels. Though this game has been re-released on GBA, I’d like to be able to play it in it’s original form again, reliving ll those memories. Ahhhh…
1.
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Complete (Mega Drive)I remember this being the holy grail of games for me during one point. Everyone had played the Sonic series, and I loved Sonic 3. I could go as second player and play as Tails helping my mate in the main game. Then we discovered Sonic and Knuckles. Utilising an interesting ‘lock-on’ feature, this turned Sonic 3 into it’s full complete version. Added levels, the ability to play as Knuckles, extension and real ending to the storyline, this was simply awesome. This game I just remember for having so much fun with, finished it multiple times thanks to the save feature, and co-op play is always a plus. Being able to play this again on a TV, the way it was meant to be played, now that is something I would pay for.
Linkage to the full article (It's got pictures!)
Part 2Part 1Please note that at the time I wrote this, the Wii was not yet released, so Golden Axe etc had not been released on VC.