DuckTales

There is music that millions of people remember without ever having turned the game on — and DuckTales by Capcom has just such a track. The famous Moon Theme from the moon level became one of the most beloved and most cited video game melodies ever, and on its own it is enough to earn this 1989 game a place in the gaming hall of fame.

But DuckTales is not just one brilliant motif. Based on the Disney series of the same name, you take on the wealthy Scrooge McDuck, who sets off after treasure across exotic locations — from the Amazon through the Himalayas all the way to the Moon. His main weapon is the cane, on which he hops like a pogo stick: press down and jump and Scrooge bounces off the ground, off enemies and off boxed-up objects. This pogo mechanic gives movement a unique rhythm and serves both as an attack and as a way to reach higher.

The levels can be tackled in any order, which lends the game a pleasant sense of freedom and the chance to choose your own path to riches. The level design carries that typical Capcom quality from the era when the studio churned out one excellent licensed title after another — solid controls, clean graphics and honestly tuned difficulty that punishes carelessness but never feels unfair.

The game enjoys such respect that in 2013 it received a careful HD remake, DuckTales: Remastered, which reworked the graphics, re-recorded the music into an orchestral form and brought back the original voice actors from the series. Few NES games received such a modern accolade.

DuckTales is proof that a licensed game based on a cartoon series need not be a cheap cash grab, but a genuine gem that holds up even after decades.

Why play: A top-tier Disney platformer with an inventive pogo mechanic and perhaps the most beloved soundtrack of the NES era — you'll hear the Moon Theme and never forget it.