People forget how deep the NES sports library got. My shelf alone has over fifty sports cartridges, and a surprising number still hold up. The highlights:

• Baseball Stars — the one that mattered: it let you create and save your own team and players, leveling them across a season. Revolutionary for 1989.
• Blades of Steel — Konami hockey, beloved for fast play and the "FIGHT!" brawls.
• Double Dribble — the jaw-dropping zoomed-in slam-dunk cutscene on every inside score.
• Ice Hockey — pick skinny, average, or fat skaters, each with trade-offs. Daft, perfect fun.
• Pro Wrestling — home of the immortal "A WINNER IS YOU."
• R.C. Pro-Am — Rare's isometric radio-control racer, a genuine classic.
• NES Open Tournament Golf — Mario himself stars, tiny caddie and all.
• Rad Racer — shipped with 3-D glasses for a pseudo-stereoscopic mode.

Plus a deep bench: Bases Loaded, R.B.I. Baseball, Jordan vs Bird, Skate or Die, Nintendo World Cup, Super Dodge Ball, Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road, and a whole rack of golf (Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman). The NES quietly ran the family rec room.