IrishCanadian25
Going on 10 years with WrestleZone

Dost thou recall this CLASSIC!?
Other than Super Mario 2, this may have been my first "greatest NES game of all time." And the first one I ever spent HOURS upon HOURS completing!
In the annals of old-school RPG's, this was one of the ones that started it all. You begin in the audience of King Lorik, sitting upon this throne, who calls you a "Decendant of Erdrick." Conspicuous by her absence is Lorik's daughter, the Princess. Apparently, "The Ball of Light" has been stolen by The Dragonlord, and has allowed the minions of the Dragonlord to over-run the landscape.
You begin the game with the King giving you some gold, a key (which only serves to get you out of the throne room - thanks a lot, dick), and a torch. No weapon. No armor. Dude, you want me to save the world, tell one of the guards to give me his damn sword! Oh well.
As you traverse the castle, you may speak with any of a number of NPC's, who detail for you in little bits the kidnapping of the Princess by "A great foe," the epic tidal wave that turned the South Island into a marshland, and the destruction of the heroic town of Hauksness. Several characters are out of reach, blocked by a door requiring a magic key. I wonder if that's important...
Upon exiting the castle, you see a town to the immediate East. That Breconary. In the distance to the Southeast, you see another castle surrounded by marshland. That's Charlock Castle - home of The Dragon Lord. You can make a run for the town to spend your 120 gold, but if you encounter a foe...

Slimes, and the occassional Drakee, are the only foes around the castle and the town. The further away you walk, the harder they get. And even if you die, you get resurrected for half your gold - which at this point isn't much.
I could do a whole walkthrough, but I will spare you. This was one of the first NES games to require you to spend hours "leveling-up," fighting foes you can defeat just to gain XP and Gold for stronger attacks and weapons. You also start to learn magic at level 3 - the aptly named "Heal" and "Hurt" spells at levels 3 and 4, respectively. Magic gets stronger as you do, including spells that return you to the castle in a jam, spells that take you outside of a cave, spells that act as three torches, and the badass "Healmore" and "Hurtmore" spells WAY later on. "Sleep" is extremely useful.
The game is PACKED with sub-plots. The cryptic descriptions of the "Fairy Flute" near the fountain in Kol (it puts the powerful Golem to sleep so you can enter the strongest town in the game - Cantlin - WAY later on), the stories of "The Silver Harp" in Garingham, "The Stones of Sunlight", and the "Staff of Rain." You need the Harp to trade for the Staff, which combines with the Stones to create "The Rainbow Drop." That rainbow creates the bridge to Charlock castle. I figured all of this out with NO WALKTHROUGH originally.
The major subquest is to rescue Princess Gwaelin from "The Great Foe," which is a badass Green Dragon. You're forced to fall in love with her, as if you answer "no" when she asks "dost thou love me?" she just says "But thou must!" and she asks again. I always wanted a customer answer "but I doth wish to hitteth other regional poontang, verilly I wish no serious relationship at this time-eth."

In the devistated town of Haukesness, enemies like Warlocks, Wizards, Werewolves, Wyverns, and Knights await you, and you have to defeat an Axe Knight to win Erdrick's Armor. Erdrick's sword is in Charlock Castle. The quest is so back and forth, it's nuts.
This game was a classic. The final castle was such a challenge, and the baddies were epic. Red Dragons, Wizards, Armored Knights, Starwyverns, all of these creative enemies in one place. Then, it's the final battle with the Dragonlord, who was as bad ass as they get.
Unique about this game was that, at the end, the Dragonlord asked you to join him. Here, you can actually say "yes," and end the game as co-ruler of the world instead of fighting him and going home to that demanding slag Princess Gwaelin. But that's fun one time.

I could talk about this game for hours. It's a top-5 all time favorite. Thoughts?