9. Dragon Warrior

Year: 1986
Platform: NES
Publisher: Nintendo

If this article were written in Japan, Dragon Warrior would be the number one game on this list (Didn’t you hear? New Dragon Quest games, as the series is called in Japan, come out on weekends and holidays so a whole lot of people don’t take off of work to play it upon release). We’re going to put it a little bit lower on this list, though, simply because, while great, we feel there were far-better RPGs of yesteryear. With the original game’s simple beginnings—rescue the princess and kill the dragon—to its more advanced party system and storyline in the prequel, Dragon Warrior III, the series became famous for its grinding and leveling-up system, which became staples of the genre. All classics, through and through, the initial, 8-bit series is still all playable today. And we do play them. Blue slimes, beware.