Now that the emulator "console" gimmick has passed, I'm wondering what games bay12 think should have been on there, to not only make them good/fun toys to have, but things with actual replay value. Almost to the point that you'd be happy to hand them down to your kids on a "this is what Grand-/Dad/Mum used to play, and they stood the test of time".
Not necessarily the big power hitters of each console, but games that really can be played for a bit of fun whenever, or even your "if I was stuck on a desert island" games. Disregard licensing issues, newer versions of, etc, etc. Just good games that *could* have been on those console's memory cards, so you would still consider turning them on in ten years time, even though you've finished those particular games.
My quick list (that I'll probably add more to, and isn't even really ordered other than the top 3) is:
NES Classic
#1 Sid Meyers Pirates! It's just a damn good, light hearted game. The NES menu system made everything fast to do, and it's still one of my go-to emulated games on my phone, because it's so carefree and open. Tight, easy controls, with plenty of fun and replayability.
#2 M.U.L.E It's a trading sim that can bring great woe to friendships, or laughter, and is great to crack out after a few beers as a party game. It's amazing. Pretty good to teach kids some concepts too, because it can be played cooperatively or competitively, with non-zero-sum outcomes, specialization, market gluts, planning, economies of scale, random events, diversification, and many other somewhat complex topics all being covered in a fun/cutesy manner.
#3 Elite. Yes, I know the controls are horrible. Yes, I know Elite isn't even that good to play with better controls. But it's Elite, the grand-daddy of first-person space Sims, and it's not on the NES Classic.
#720°. A skateboarding game. Because skateboarding both was, and still is, cool.
#1943. It's like Tyrian, but far, far worse. At least there's some character upgradability in it though.
#AD&D: Pools of Radiance. Because AD&D both was, and still is, geeky as fuck. But makes for a different RPG style from the FF or DW series.
#Bionic Commando. Just good, novel, fluid mechanics in a platformer.
#California Games. All the "cool" sports that aren't in other games, even if this is a crappy version of the title.
#Defender of the Crown. Medieval sim. Because, there's not many of them from that era.
#Gauntlet/II. Plain good top-down dungeon crawling fun.
#Joust. Look, we got Balloon Fight, why not Joust? At least joust is great fun to play in vs mode.
#Lemmings. A puzzle game is sorely needed to enhance longevity. Even with a tiny colour palette so that it looks awful, and bad controls for this genre, Lemmings is better than most.
#Loadrunner. The completely unrandomized Spelunky of its day.
#Might and Magic 1: Pretty clunky as RPGs go, but closer to an "open world" experience out there than anything else on the NES.
#Operation Wolf. Because, shooting EVERYTHING is fine to do sometimes.
#Rampage. Because smashing buildings is fun.
#Rampart. Because putting buildings back together in between smashing ships with cannons is fun, but hard.
#River City Ransom. Open'ish world street fighting. Kind of.
#Romance of the Three Kingdoms II. You want deep and fiddly strategy? Here it is. Could also chuck in Nobunaga's Ambition II as well. Every Dynasty/Samurai Warriors fan's wet nightmare.
#Tetris. I bought a cheap Chinese TV that had Tetris on it as a minigame a while ago. But the NES classic doesn't have it on the console. Everyone can play Tetris. So it should be there.
#Ultima 4. One of the few RPGs that tried doing things completely differently, and entirely succeeded in doing so. A non-arbitrary bad guy, only your semi-virtuous self to rein in.
#A golf game, a baseball game, and a monster car game. These play quite well on the NES. So there should have been one of each. Possibly a "normal"driving game as well (or Spy Hunter).
#Aussie Rules Footy. No, the rest of the world hasn't heard of it. No, I don't even like the game IRL, and I'm Australian. But it translated to a two button console controller surprisingly well. A hidden gem, of a horrible football code.
What other games would you have chosen to slip into the memory card of the NES classic, mostly in terms of replayability rather than "big Nintendo games"? Admittedly I've listed a lot of games that also got PC ports, but being the master race and all, we're of more discerning values in what actually stands the test of time and playtime.