Battletoads

One of the best-looking titles for the NES, Battletoads borrowed heavily from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property. It took a trio of harmless reptiles and mutated them into a band of green-skinned, ass-kicking super heroes. What made the game so unique, apart from the admittedly rad hero and enemy design, was the varied gameplay. Battletoads splits between various play styles such as racing and climbing stages, all of which sported insane obstacles. And by insane, you should understand these challengers were wildly difficult. Battletoads was near impossible to complete. While theoretically possible to complete, few gamers could profess to beating the game without having to totally lie about it. Still, it's one of the best games that came out of the 8-bit era.