Why NES: Gameplay over graphics?
It's been nearly 15 years since the Nintendo Entertainment System made its first appearance here in the US. Other systems have come and gone, but the NES still holds a firm fan base even today. There are several different explanations for this, but mine centers around the simplicity of gameplay for NES games.
The graphics may not be 3D or polygonal, or there might not be any full-motion video on the NES, but if there's one thing that NES games have all over most current games in my opinion, it's the high quality, yet simple, gameplay. Two buttons and a D-Pad... that's the NES way. No fiddling with trigger buttons or some silly 6-button scheme here. It's jump and fire, jump and run, A and B. While there was some learning curve and some frustration involved occasionally, the majority of NES games were fairly easy to play and players really couldn't fault the play control too much.
Though I have been playing games for over 20 years, my gaming skills have been honed on NES titles, like the Ninja Gaiden series, RBI Baseball (still one of the best baseball games ever, IMO), the Castlevania series, and more. These titles remain classics even today, and some have even become the subject of different web sites.
Sure, the graphics may seem a bit dated, but the gameplay was the thing then, and remains so even now. While some NES franchises have seen new life on other consoles (Zelda, Castlevania, Mega Man), others have been poorly converted, like Contra. The success of these franchises has been based more on gameplay than graphics, with 2D graphics taking center stage in Castlevania and Mega Man sequels.
The NES is great because the games are great and the gameplay is tight. You can argue over which next-gen system might have the better graphics, but for the sheer quality of gameplay, NES games have rarely been surpassed and that's a big reason why I remain dedicated to the system.
-- Offspringer