There was a game from 1987 I should have voted for instead, called Faxanadu (often mispronounced as Facks-Ana-Du, it’s actually Fa-Zana-Du since it is named for Famicom and Xanadu). But I forgot it wasn’t a game from 1990 or 1991, because I associate it with the mid-late NES period when I was a little older and the games were getting more complex. But no, this one first came out way back in 1987.

In 1985, Nihon Falcom released Xanadu, and they licensed the IP to Hudson Soft to develop a spin-off called Faxanadu. It is a side scrolling action game much like Castlevania, but one I like better. Rather than progressing horizontally, as is the cast in most of these games, the world main progression was upward in a location called “The World Tree” which was a land under invasion from the metal-minded dwarves from the opposing mountain. For a modern reference, it’s the same kind of world as Xenoblade Chronicles where you work your way up a biological Bionis type world, cross over on a branch (a branch of the tree in Faxanadu, a Sword in Xenoblade) and then make your way to the more mechanical and stone dwarf mountain that is a bit like Mechonis. I suspect Faxanadu was an inspiration for the world of Xenoblade Chronicles since Tetsuya Takahashi (creator of Xenogears, Xenosaga, and Xenoblade) was no doubt familiar with the game, as it came out near the time he broke into the video game industry, and the company he first worked for was none other than Nihon Falcom.

Also the game contains some of my favourite music from the NES.

If we're picking a Game of the Decade based on which title had the most cultural impact, I think the only honest answer is the original Super Mario Bros. Wouldn't have been a Super Mario Bros. 3 (the candidate currently leading in our poll) without it, and for that matter console gaming itself may never have recovered from the doldrums of the early '80s either for that matter without it. It also sold more than twice as many copies as Super Mario Bros. 3.

But if instead we're just picking our favorite game from the '80s -- which is what it looks like people are actually doing (i.e. picking Super Mario Bros. 3 because it was more fun to play) -- then in that case I have a definite three '80s faves. They are:

1) The Guardian Legend
2) A Mind Forever Voyaging
3) Leather Goddesses of Phobos

None are nominated and there is no "other" option in this poll.

I think Super Mario Bros. 3 is the answer, however it would not exist without Super Mario Bros.

Pac-Man is hard to beat as well! Too bad it did not make the move to side scroller well. It could have been exactly like Mario (collect the dots instead of coins, the big dots give you power ups).

Personally, I was much more into adventure games, so titles like Metroid, Zelda and Phantasy Star were much more impactful.

I considered choosing 'most impactful' then realized if the question was 'game of the decade for 2010's' I wouldn't care about how 'impactful' something was, I'd just choose the game I thought was the best. So that's what I did.

Also, the nominees were all selected by the previous 'game of the year' threads which is why I assume there's no 'other'.

I see Super Mario Bros 3 as a bit of a blend of adventure and 2D platforming. Particularly when considering how games were in the 1980s where adventure elements weren’t as pronounced as they became during the 16-bit or the 32/64-bit generations. For me, it was the fact that Super Mario Bros 3 felt like such a huge adventure that really attracted me to the game.

Although, where Metroid and Zelda appealed to me was their open worldness—basically, the freedom of how to progress. At first, building on these games always felt like a trade off against that freedom, and I found it peaked with Link to the Past… until Breath of the Wild blew that theory out of the water.

I considered choosing 'most impactful' then realized if the question was 'game of the decade for 2010's' I wouldn't care about how 'impactful' something was, I'd just choose the game I thought was the best. So that's what I did.

Also, the nominees were all selected by the previous 'game of the year' threads which is why I assume there's no 'other'.

For me, NES Zelda and Metroid are the peak of these two franchises because I love the amount of freedom/autonomy they have to offer.  However, I realize that is a preference and most other people are willing to trade a little freedom to improve other aspects like graphics, game size, and QoL features.  Breath of the Wild is my second favorite Zelda because it returns to freedom/autonomy heavy gameplay.  It actually does have more freedom than Zelda 1, but I prefer the combat, challenge and items more in Zelda 1.

Personally, I'm definitely in the Super Metroid and Metroid Prime camp when it comes to my favorite entries in that franchise. Guess I'm not too creative that way. When it comes to The Legend of Zelda franchise, I kind of have three favorite mainline entries that I have a tough time choosing between: Breath of the Wild, The Wind Waker, and (nowadays) Majora's Mask, all for different reasons.

And no, fweedom is not the only thing that makes Breath of the Wild an excellent game, IMO. Freedom does not by itself make a game great to me. Everyone is doing that today. What makes Breath of the Wild stand out to me in AAA landscape wherein the transition of every franchise not belonging to one of the oldest two genres in gaming (sports sims and shooting games, which literally go back to Tennis for Two and Spacewar respectively and are still consistently among the best-selling games today, every year) into open-world adventures is the most predictable fate that I can imagine at this point is that the experience feels uniquely life-like to me. You have to eat and sleep (or at least if you want to be practical you do anyway) and your weapons can break and stuff and there aren't sci-fi arrows on the ground telling you where to go to fulfill your next major objective (although, you know, close enough sometimes). Breath of the Wild adds a layer of responsibility to the enhanced player freedom that it gives you that makes it somehow feel like an all-around maturation of the Legend of Zelda experience.

(I don't entirely get that same feeling with Tears of the Kingdom, incidentally. Something about the game's core gimmick, the landscape-manipulation abilities offered by Ultrahand, throws that formulation a bit out of balance to my mind in a way that makes the overall experience feel a bit more convenient and less convincing, less fully real and immersive. To me. I guess, as Agent Smith has put it, a certain amount of hardship is part of my definition of realism, lol. Not that I don't enjoy the sheer creativity Ultrahand affords, but if I'm having to choose between entries I mean, there's a believability threshold difference somewhere even in high-fantasy adventures like this; I mean if immersion is a factor they're aiming for. I think that's a dif that a few of us have sensed and maybe found difficult to put into words.)

The Wind Waker and Majora's Mask are entries I love primarily for their atmosphere and their particular, endearing little driving narratives in the background that have managed to reach my heart. Like I said, different reasons.