After Super Mario and Tetris defined platformers and puzzle games, respectively, Zelda did the same for the action-adventure, Metroid for thematic exploration sidescrollers, and Contra for co-op shooters.
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Zelda without a doubt changed the way we look at exploring a world in a video game. Later games would refine the formula but the original Zelda still plays and challenges in excellent fashion.
Atmosphere, mood, and exploration. A triumphant thriller - and the short play time doesn't matter as much as it did back in the 80's.
There has been plenty of recognition for this puzzle game and how its different attack patterns created a sense of character for each boxer. Still, props to Nintendo for another great NES title.
Two-player co-op, changing field of views, and a superb difficulty make this shooting gallery game memorable for all the right reasons.
Mega Man started to get us to think using multiple weapons in a kind of rock-paper-scissors type combat that would be extrapolated to things like Fire Emblem later.
Consider this game tied with Dragon Warrior and Phantasy Star. All three provided huge JRPG adventures and tons of grinding but Final Fantasy had the advantage of coming after Dragon Warrior and having a better, more engaging story.
Straightforward story but established many JRPG elements in a neat, cohesive package. While it built off past RPG's, Dragon Warrior was the first to do it truly well in the distinctive JRPG style.
This game would be the best of the three pillars of JRPGs (see Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy above) with a dungeon map or adding furniture, pictures, or anything really to the dungeons. All the dungeons looked the same and things became so confusing that people relied on drawing dungeon maps on graph paper. The most recent remake on the Switch includes a dungeon map so I'd definitely recommend that version if you want to play for the first time.
Simplistic today, RBI Baseball was the first game to successfully replicate a real-life sport. The junk pitches you could throw in this and the misplayed baserunning mistakes made it feel game-y but also on the good side of fun vs. too much realism.
This game gets a lot of flak for immediately deviating from a brilliant classic, but can you imagine if there was a direct through-line from Zelda 2 to a Zelda version of Demon/Dark Souls? Because that's what Zelda 2's combat was like.