by far, the best game ever made on the NES.

I just got my new copy (the old one met an unfortunate end at the hands of my 4 year old cousin) and i can't get enough of the game. seriously, it arrived in the mail yesterday, i put it in at 5:30, then played it for about 7 straight hours. what a glorius experience.

moral of the story, dont forget the classics.

I believe you are forgetting about a) Dragon Warrior, and b) Blades of steel. I liked both better than Mario 3. Hell I liked Kirby better than mario 3. And um...Punch Out?

Ok so I suppose I could list every good NES game, but that would be useless.

Oh, sweet Jesus. I could play that game for 9000 hours at a time.

Streets of Rage is also fun, but for Sega,

While Super Mario Brothers 3 is good, I'd still rather play Kirby or the first Zelda game.

zelda and dragon warrior are really good, but i enjoy a game that i can play for hours, or beat in 20 minutes. mario 3 fits the bill.

I have a friend that just bought a refurbished NES (new 72-pin connector, no more blowing!). Lets just say that G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor and the original TMNT game make for some good (albeit difficult) times as well.

Also, if you can find Crash 'n' the Boys Street Challenge... well, just think Track and Field meets River City Ransom. Good stuff there.