The "black box" series of NES games was an important part of videogame history.

Before we had Metroid or Mega Man, we had the Nintendo Black Box games.Those games were proto-games -- simple arcade classics which didn't need full development teams or long, involved stories. Their premises were simple, and sold not on hype, but simple gameplay. The title explained all you needed to know about the game. The sprites on these games tell a story of the evolution of gaming -- from simple distractions to grand works of interactive media.

Here are the ten best NES games from the black box era.

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