Gamers! 89% of you can't identify these Nintendo games from a screenshot. Can you?

By: J. Scott Wilson

About This Quiz

Old-school gamers have a soft spot for the original Nintendo and the older systems. How many of these games can you recognize from just a screenshot? Blow out your cartridges and try it!

Here's the game that took Mario out from under Donkey Kong and made him a star. The Mario franchise is huge now, with dozens of game titles featuring him.

Many people don't know that Mario made his first appearance in this game. He's the hero, trying to climb the maze to rescue the princess from Donkey Kong.

Contra was one of the first games that drew its concept from world politics. The Contras were Latin American resistance fighters.

After the stupendous success of the first Mario Bros., Nintendo hurried to get out another game. It wasn't very different from the original, but still a lot of fun.

Galaga was an arcade favorite that made a smooth transition to Nintendo. Not all arcade games were so successful.

Pac-Man was one of the earliest arcade game mega-hits. It sold well as a console game, too.

Excitebike could be a maddening game to learn. However, once you had all the controller tricks mastered, it was a lot of fun.

Ice Climber was another "click-dodge" sort of game. One wrong move would send you sliding to doom.

The original Final Fantasy was a mix of sci-fi and fantasy that brought a depth to gaming that hadn't been seen before. The series is still going on, and has reached epic popularity.

"I'm sorry, but the Princess is in another castle!" How many of you threw your controllers at the screen when you saw that after finishing a world?

Everyone had a favorite Street Fighter character. Every character had its own secret moves, and some were deadly!

Super Contra made use of better graphics technology to improve upon the original. The plot was still basically the same.

Legend of Zelda was one of the first immersive role-playing console games. There were puzzles to solve, monsters to fight and worlds to explore.

Gradius was a side-scrolling shooter that successfully made the jump from arcade to console. Its original name, Bubble System, didn't quite describe the game.

If you loved Joust, you loved Balloon Fight. You had to stay above your enemies and kill them while keeping them from popping the balloons that kept you in flight!

River City Ransom was a street-fight game with a big world to explore. One of the enemy gangs was called "the generic dudes," a rare bit of tongue-in-cheek gaming humor.

This game played a bit like a hybrid of BattleZone and Missile Command. You played a tank commander tasked with destroying enemy tanks before they got to your city.

The sound effects of Yie Ar Kung-Fu are instantly identifiable to any arcade veteran. Fans of Jean-Claude Van Damme will recognize it as the game the hero plays in "Bloodsport."

Final Fantasy III introduced some changes to the series, while still keeping the turn-based gameplay. Players could change jobs, which made the play more challenging.

This puzzle game made use of Mario and friends, but it was more fit for Tetris players. If you play Candy Crush today, you'll recognize the gameplay.

This second Zelda adventure is actually a prequel to the first. We meet Link and learn how he came to be questing after Zelda.

This very Mario-like game featured pink blob Kirby battling his way through multiple worlds. Every level had a boss fight, and there were minigames built in which let players pick up extra health and other goodies.

Solomon's Key combined a puzzle game with a shooter pretty effectively. One neat feature was the ability to destroy stone blocks by head-butting them.

This party-based adventure game was one of the most intricate ever released for the NES. There were multiple characters with different roles, and each had different abilities that would be valuable at various times.

Many video game writers rank this among the best video games of all time. Mega Man had to fight the evil Dr. Wily and his many minions through multiple levels.

If you weren't the type who could pull off super-precision jumps between levels, Lode Runner was a welcome change. The gameplay was a lot more puzzle based, giving the brainy types a good shot.

Mario has finally caught Donkey Kong in this amusing game. As DK Jr., you have to climb chains and vines to locate keys to get your dad out of a cage, while grabbing bananas and dodging hazards along the way.

The Lee brothers, Billy and Jimmy, fought their way through hordes of attackers in this fighting game. It gave the option for two players to team up.

Duck Hunt was originally included when you bought the NES, along with an orange plastic pistol. Miss the flying ducks, and a cartoon dog would pop up and snicker at you!

In this side-scrolling game, a hero named Arthur fought hordes of demons to rescue Guinevere. Memorably, if he got hit and lost his armor, he appeared on screen in his boxer shorts.

Tetris was a gigantic videogame sensation. Invented by a Russian designer, it became an obsession for puzzle fans of every age.

A vampire killer with an Indiana Jones weapon was the main character in this. Using his whip, he dispatched monsters by the hundreds, collecting hearts to power up.

As befits the name of the game, the hero in this title had wings. It was a fairly standard setup of battling through levels and defeating bosses to collect goodies.

If you got tired of standard side-scrolling adventure games, Adventure Island had some new wrinkles. The character at some points would jump off cliffs to complete underwater levels.

After the rampaging success of Space Invaders, a lot of copies came out. Galaxian was one of the best, with colorful graphics and a nifty soundscape.

Much like Spy Hunter, Road Fighter called on the player to drive as fast as possible while dodging hazards. There were oil slicks, cars with razor wheels and various other annoyances.

This cartoonish side-scroller called for the player to shoot airborne enemies while bombing targets on the ground. Power ups were bells that would change colors to grant different powers.

Spy Hunter is primarily known for its catchy theme song, a James Bond-ian riff. The gameplay was a straightforward mix of driving fast and dodging hazards.

This game was one of the first to let the player "look out the eyes" of his character. The boxing was somewhat clunky, but the fighter characters were hilarious.

Pedaling his bike through a generic suburban landscape, Paperboy tossed his papers into various spots. He dodged dogs, cars and various other hazards along the way.

Rygar (the Legendary Warrior) has to fight his way through several worlds to get items from the gods. When he gets them all, then it's time for the REAL battle.

George Lucas dipped his toe into video games with this cinematic game. The bad guy was a scientist whose mind has been enslaved by a meteor creature, with a bunch of teen protagonists trying to defeat him.

Yoshi's Story took the adorable turtle character from the Mario games and gave him his own adventure. The worlds within the game were "made" of different materials, like wood and paper.

10-Yard Fight was one of the earliest sports games for the NES. The graphics were murky, but the gameplay was great, letting players go head to head and play offense and defense.

Tecmo Bowl was a huge sensation from its very first version. The cheesy announcer soundtrack, the cheering crowd and the top-notch (for the time) game play were great.

For chess players, Archon was a great game. It combined the strategy of chess with button-mashing fighter game play.

One of the earliest video games was Break-Out, and Arkanoid took that game play steps beyond. Blocks would occasionally release power-ups or hazards, and different block arrangements made the play challenging.

Bomberman was a maze game involving a little guy toting high explosives. The sound effects were entertaining, and there was just enough difficulty to make it occasionally maddening.

Xevious was a vertically scrolling shooter with some of the toughest boss fights ever. The mother ships released drones, shot lasers and then tried to smash the player's ship.

The '80s was the decade when pro wrestling went mainstream, with Wrestlemania filling arenas nationwide and huge TV deals. This game tried to capitalize on that, and led to a long-running series of titles.

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