Nintendo lined the '80s let's get that detail out in the open immediately. Yes, Atari had its instants, Sega was on the cusp of something great with the Genesis in 1989, and even NEC had some rough gems with the hatchling TurboGrafx-16. But by and large this was the decade when Nintendo came to power and everybody else desperately knotted to catch up. It's also the decade during which most of GameSpy's current leader staff grew up and ongoing playing videogames in the initial place.

Given those two facts, and the title of this article, it's only normal that the NES would control the lion's share of this list. So as you read our ranked options over the next five days and dispute amongst yourselves over what we picked, what we didn't choose and what you'd select, do attempt to stay the state and situation of the decade at hand exactly in mind.