It's definitely a generational thing. I hear what the author is saying as we're probably the same age (original Ninja Gaiden is my all time favorite game). As

It's definitely a generational thing. I hear what the author is saying as we're probably the same age (original Ninja Gaiden is my all time favorite game). As others have said, though, you don't remember how much crap you had to wade through on the NES. For every Faxanadu, there were a dozen Indiana Jones & the Temple of Dooms. For every Ninja Gaiden or Bad Dudes, there were twenty Fist of the North Stars. It's like thinking that in the 70s on the radio, it was all Led Zeppelin and no Foghat.