CBR put an old argument back on the table on October 26, 2026. Its article 4 NES Games Better Than The Legend of Zelda names Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (1989), Super Mario Bros. (1985) and Final Fantasy (1987) among its picks. The fourth title does not appear in the excerpt we could verify, so we leave it unnamed.
The claim itself is editorial opinion, and no sales figures, prices or on-record quotes came with it. That makes this a story about framing rather than numbers. Readers keep searching for NES games better than Zelda, and publishers keep answering. The timing also fits a busy week for Nintendo’s back catalog, which our Switch Online Game Boy additions report covered just days ago.
Below, we lay out what is confirmed, what is not, how rival outlets treat the same debate, and what the pattern says about retro gaming coverage in late 2026. We file it under gaming because the games, the platform and the readers all live there.
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What CBR Published on October 26, 2026
CBR ran the piece on October 26, 2026, under the title 4 NES Games Better Than The Legend of Zelda. The headline promises four games, and the verified excerpt confirms three of them by name. Each one comes from a different design tradition: an action-platformer from Konami, a platform game from Nintendo itself, and a role-playing game tied to Square Enix.
That spread matters. A list that only pitted Zelda against other adventure games would read as a genre fight. By picking a platformer, a gothic action game and an RPG, CBR frames the question as which NES game aged best overall, not which one copied Zelda’s formula better.
We want to be precise about what we know. The title, the date and the three named games are confirmed. The author’s reasoning for each pick, the fourth game and any supporting data are not part of what we could verify. Where this article describes the games, it relies on their release years and publishers, not on claims about CBR’s wording.
The Four Games: Three Confirmed, One Open
The table below separates what the fact sheet supports from what it does not. It also lists The Legend of Zelda for reference, since the whole debate is measured against it. Zelda debuted on the NES in 1986, according to the research we ran for this piece.
| Game | Year | Developer or publisher | Status in CBR list |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Legend of Zelda | 1986 | Nintendo | Benchmark for the comparison |
| Super Mario Bros. | 1985 | Nintendo (publisher) | Confirmed pick |
| Final Fantasy | 1987 | Associated with Square Enix | Confirmed pick |
| Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse | 1989 | Konami | Confirmed pick |
| Fourth game | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Not shown in verified excerpt |
One detail stands out in the table. All three confirmed picks sit within three years of Zelda. Super Mario Bros. predates it by a year, Final Fantasy follows it by a year, and Castlevania III arrives three years later. None of the picks reaches into the 1990s.
Why Beating Zelda Is a Hard Brief
Any list that ranks games above The Legend of Zelda starts from a handicap. Zelda carries decades of franchise goodwill, and its 1986 debut sits in most retro canons. CBR does not claim Zelda is weak. The argument is that specific games did specific things better, and readers can accept that without rewriting history.
Editorial rankings like this one also work as engagement machines. A headline that places a beloved game below others invites disagreement, and disagreement drives comments and shares. That is not a criticism of CBR. Every outlet in the genre plays the same game, and we cover the rival lists below.
Opinion Versus Verifiable Fact
Better is a judgment, and no benchmark settles it. You can verify a release year, a publisher or a platform. You cannot verify that a game is more fun than another. We treat the CBR list the way we would treat any critic’s ranking: as a credible editorial position from a named outlet, worth weighing but not proof.
Super Mario Bros. (1985): The Case for the Older Game
Super Mario Bros. is the easiest pick on the list to defend by timing alone. It arrived in 1985, a year before Zelda, and Nintendo published it. Many players first met the NES through Mario, and the platformer defined what a side-scrolling console game felt like for a generation.
The case against Zelda here rests on focus. Mario asks the player to run, jump and reach the flag, and the loop teaches itself in seconds. Zelda asks for exploration, item hunting and patience. A critic who values immediacy will rank Mario higher. A critic who values discovery will not. Both positions are fair.
Mario’s cultural reach also keeps growing. Our earlier report on Miyamoto’s Order of Culture honor noted that the Mario films had topped $2.3 billion by the time of that coverage. That figure belongs to the film franchise, not the 1985 cartridge, but it shows how far the character has traveled from a single NES release.
Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (1989) and the Konami Argument
Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse came out in 1989 from Konami. It is a prequel to the original Castlevania, which makes it an unusual late-NES pick. Late-cycle games had years of hardware knowledge behind them, and developers had learned how to squeeze atmosphere and polish out of the same 8-bit machine.
The pitch against Zelda follows a pattern. Where Zelda rewards wandering, Castlevania III rewards execution. It is a game about reading enemy patterns, timing jumps and surviving tight encounters. Players who remember the NES as a tough, handcrafted machine often name this title first. Players who prefer open-ended play usually do not.
Konami’s inclusion also widens the conversation beyond Nintendo’s own output. A Nintendo-only list would feel like a house ranking. Putting a third-party action game next to Mario gives the list credibility with readers who grew up on cartridges from many publishers.
Final Fantasy (1987) and the Role-Playing Question
The original Final Fantasy launched in 1987, one year after Zelda, and the franchise is now associated with Square Enix. Its presence on the list asks a different question. If Zelda counts as an action-adventure with light RPG elements, does a full turn-based RPG offer more depth?
Final Fantasy’s legacy supports the pick in one practical way. The franchise kept returning, and it is still in the news. Our report on Final Fantasy’s return to 2D on five platforms shows Square Enix still mining the look and feel of that era. Few 1987 releases can say the same.
The counterargument is just as plain. Turn-based combat from 1987 asks for patience that many modern players lack, and Zelda’s real-time action ages more gracefully for some. This is where the CBR argument turns into taste, and taste is the point of these lists.
How Rival Outlets Frame the Same Debate
CBR is not alone. Game Rant ran its own piece on forgotten NES games it considers better than The Legend of Zelda. In our review of that page, its sections made the case for Zelda 2, Crystalis, The Guardian Legend and StarTropics. The tone differs from CBR’s, since Game Rant leans on lesser-known titles while CBR leans on household names.
XDA Developers took the opposite stance. Its list of the 10 best NES games of all time places The Legend of Zelda second and Super Mario Bros. 3 first, based on the headings we reviewed. Super Mario Bros. sits at number 10 and Castlevania III at number 9. By XDA’s ordering, Zelda beats two of CBR’s three confirmed picks by a wide margin.
| Outlet | Format | Zelda’s position | Games it names |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBR | 4 games better than Zelda | Used as the benchmark | Castlevania III, Super Mario Bros., Final Fantasy, plus one unconfirmed |
| Game Rant | Forgotten games better than Zelda | Used as the benchmark | Zelda 2, Crystalis, The Guardian Legend, StarTropics |
| XDA Developers | 10 best NES games, ranked | Second place | Super Mario Bros. 3 first, Super Mario Bros. tenth, Castlevania III ninth |
The disagreement is the story. Castlevania III and Super Mario Bros. both appear on XDA’s list, yet XDA ranks Zelda above them. CBR, using the same pair of games, argues the opposite. Neither outlet is wrong because neither is measuring anything objective. The split shows how much room the NES library leaves for argument nearly 40 years after its peak.
Historical Context: Five Years of NES Output
Look at the release years and a clear window appears. Super Mario Bros. shipped in 1985, Zelda in 1986, Final Fantasy in 1987 and Castlevania III in 1989. That is five years from the platformer that defined the system to the late-cycle action game that pushed it. Few console generations produced so many lasting designs in so short a span.
The window also explains why the debate never dies. Each of these games solved a different problem. Mario solved how to make movement feel good. Zelda solved how to make a world feel worth exploring. Final Fantasy brought Japanese role-playing to console audiences. Castlevania III showed how much atmosphere a cartridge could hold. Comparing them is like comparing a sprinter, a marathoner and a decathlete.
Why 1989 Matters
Castlevania III is the youngest game on the confirmed list, and that is not a coincidence. Late-NES titles benefited from developer experience. Teams knew the hardware limits, and the best of them used those limits as a design tool. When a critic says a 1989 game beats a 1986 game, they often mean the craft improved, not that the original idea was weak.
Market Impact: Why Retro Lists Keep Working
Retro ranking articles hold value because the audience for them never fully leaves. New players discover the NES through subscription libraries and handhelds, and longtime fans return when a publisher touches the catalog. Our coverage of the retro handhelds launching October 28 to 31 points to the same demand from the hardware side.
Nintendo’s own library service gives these lists a practical hook. When a reader finishes a CBR list, the next question is where to play the games. Nintendo World Report has published a ranking of the top 50 Nintendo Switch Online retro games, and that kind of guide answers the follow-up. Availability varies by title and region, so readers should check the current library before buying anything.
We cannot quantify the traffic effect of the CBR piece, since no search volume or readership data accompanied it. What we can say is that the format has survived because it costs little to produce and always draws a reaction. Expect more lists that rank classic games against the biggest names in the catalog.
Competitive Comparison: Ways to Play These Games in 2026
The list creates demand, and readers have three broad ways to meet it. Each path trades cost, convenience and authenticity differently. The comparison below stays qualitative on purpose, since the fact sheet carries no pricing and we will not invent any.
- Subscription libraries. Nintendo’s Switch Online service offers NES titles inside a paid membership. It is the simplest route, but the catalog changes over time and not every game is present.
- Original hardware and cartridges. This route gives the truest feel, but it costs more in money and space, and cartridge availability depends on the collector market.
- Emulation and retro handhelds. Dedicated devices and software let players load their own legally owned games. Our best SNES emulator ranking covers the neighboring generation and shows how the tooling has matured.
For the three confirmed games, we cannot say which ones sit in a given region’s library today. Check the service directly. We would rather send you to the source than repeat a stale catalog list that may already be out of date.
What to Play First If You Trust the List
Readers who want to test CBR’s thesis can run a simple experiment. Play Zelda for an hour, then play each of the three confirmed games for an hour. Judge by what you remember the next morning, not by what you expected to like. That personal test beats any ranking.
Start with Super Mario Bros. if you want a quick, clean comparison. Move to Castlevania III if you enjoy challenge and mood. Save Final Fantasy for a longer session, since a turn-based RPG from 1987 rewards patience more than speed. The order matters less than the willingness to give each game a fair hour.
Four Predictions for Retro Game Coverage
These predictions are our own analysis, not reported facts. We base them on the pattern of competing lists and on recent library activity.
- More versus lists will follow. Rival outlets already run their own takes, and the CBR piece gives them a fresh hook. Expect at least a few counter-lists in the coming weeks.
- Late-NES titles will gain ground. Games like Castlevania III show that craft improved over the console’s life, and critics increasingly credit the final years of the system.
- Library updates will drive rankings. When a subscription service adds a game, coverage of that game tends to follow. Updates shape what critics write about.
- Zelda will keep its seat. Even the sharpest challenge list leaves Zelda as the benchmark. Nobody argues Zelda is unimportant, and that status protects it.
What Remains Unconfirmed
Several points stay open, and we flag them so readers do not mistake our silence for agreement. The fourth game on CBR’s list is not confirmed in the verified excerpt. The author’s detailed reasoning for each pick is not confirmed. No sales numbers, review scores or developer statements accompany the piece.
The claim that these games are better than Zelda is editorial opinion. It cannot be proven or disproven, and we do not present it as fact. If CBR or another outlet publishes data that supports a specific point, we will update this article.
For related context on how studios and franchises handle their legacy catalogs, see our coverage of Hamaguchi on the FF7 Remake story, which touches on how Square Enix treats a classic once fans have strong opinions about it.
FAQ: NES Games Better Than Zelda
Which NES games does CBR say are better than The Legend of Zelda?
CBR’s October 26, 2026 article names Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, Super Mario Bros. and Final Fantasy among its four picks. The fourth title is not shown in the excerpt we verified.
Is it a fact that these games are better than Zelda?
No. Better is an editorial opinion. Other outlets rank the same games differently. XDA Developers, for example, places Zelda second on its own best-of list.
When was The Legend of Zelda released on the NES?
The original Legend of Zelda debuted on the NES in 1986. Super Mario Bros. came a year earlier in 1985, and Final Fantasy followed in 1987.
Who made Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse?
Konami developed it, and it launched in 1989. The game is a prequel to the original Castlevania.
Where can I play these NES games today?
Options include Nintendo’s Switch Online library, original cartridges and retro handhelds. Catalogs and regional availability change, so check the service for current listings before you subscribe or buy.
Did CBR publish sales figures or quotes with the list?
The verified excerpt contains no sales figures, prices or on-record quotes. That is why this article avoids specific numbers beyond release years.
Are there other lists that argue against Zelda’s ranking?
Yes. Game Rant published its own piece on forgotten NES games it considers better than Zelda, naming Zelda 2, Crystalis, The Guardian Legend and StarTropics in its sections.
