River City Ransom

The Good
Hands down, River City Ransom was one of the best games ever for the NES, and way ahead of its time. You can pick up a large variety of objects and learn a huge arsenal of moves, plus you can get money from the beaten up gang members to buy food and other items, which replenish your health, will power, or other stats. Plus, it has a neat tilted view that gives the illusion of depth, like in Commander Keen: Goodbye Galaxy, which came out about 2 years later. Plus, the boss fights are very nice and challenging.

The Bad
The gang members had positivley bizarre names like "Stick" and "Dusty". Also, it gets to an almost unfair difficulty sometimes, with 3 or 4 gang members throwing stuff at you and beating you up.

The Bottom Line
When I was eight, I used to play this game every five minutes. The reason, you may ask? It's one of the best games of all time. It also makes a nice stress releaver.