Recommendations I haven't seen here listed (so I avoided NES almost entirely):

• (NES,Master System,PC) Pipe Dream:, which is quite fun if you like puzzles.

• The Colonel's Bequest: A Laura Bow Mystery. It is one of the most beloved adventure games from this era and probably one of the best detective games ever made. Obviously it suffers a bit from an outdated UI but I find the EGA graphics ingenious and charming, doing more with less.

-(Amiga,DOS, Atari ST)Defender of the Crown: If as a kid you liked the middle ages, then this would be what you would think of: fighting jousts, siegeing castles with catapults, raid castles and rescue Saxon maidens. It is a difficult game though.

-(Everywhere)Maniac Mansion: I think no one mentioned it, but either way it is a fantastic adventure worth your time, not all ports are equal though.

-(FM Towns,TurboGrafx,Atari ST, Amiga, DOS)Loom: A unique graphic adventure where you use music to create magic and solve riddles. Recommended FM Towns for the music, though some ports have voice dialogs which are also great.

-(Master System,Arcade)Fantasy Zone II: I didn't see a Master System until I was older, but it has few gems worth mentioning, like this wacky shoot-'em-up that has a lot to offer.

-(Amiga, Genesis remake)Speedball 2:Brutal Deluxe: A bit cheating as it was released in 1990, but both a fantastic sports game and probably one of the few multiplayer games here.

-(Amiga,DOS)North and South: A civil war strategy game with comic graphics elements, a very streamlined strategy, and some arcade mini-games.

-(Genesis)Herzog Zwei: Mix of real-time strategy and shot-'em-up in a well cared package, good graphics, decent sound and challenging enough to keep you playing for a while.

• (PC, Genesis remake)688 Attack Sub: If you're into simulators and like those tense submarine warfare movies, this is a decent choice. The Genesis remake is newer (post 89) but it is mostly the same with a coat of paint.

• (Amiga)Captain Blood: A weird euro game where you are traveling to multiple alien worlds trying to find your clones to suck out their lifeforce and have to learn alien languages to do so. Very Giger-esque.

-(Master System)Phantasy Star: I got it out of curiosity and while it is rough like the earlier Final Fantasy games, has a nice story and a fun customization approach. In addition if you like this one, check out Phantasy Star II for Genesis (1989).

-(Everywhere?)Marble Madness:A game made to torture you with a marble going through a maze full of traps, but it's so simple to pick and play that it's hard to say no. (Not all ports are equally fun)

-(PC,Atari ST, some consoles?) Gauntlet 2: Unpretentious maze combat with nice multiplayer capabilities. Find keys, kill monsters, get gold.

-(Atari ST, Amiga, PC)Millenium 2.2: Strategy game about being a Moon colony in a universe where Earth got asteroid treatment and Mars are an angry bunch. Incredible UI (for its time and complexity) and excellent music in the ST version.

-(Computers and 8-bit consoles)Treasure Island Dizzy: Charming graphics, fun puzzles, so-so platforming, you're an egg.

##Maybe category:

-(Genesis)Sword of Vermillion: It's a very contentious game as it was praised a lot for not being turn-based, but the arcadey mechanics now seem a bit bland. It's a decent RPG from that era, and the early 16-bit graphics are a welcome addition.

-(Maybe everywhere?)The Bard's Tale III: It won't blow your mind because it was a very loved precursor of the western RPG and has both a nice format and consistent pace. That said, the Bard's Tale series has always been known to be very hard.

-(Master System)Alex Kidd in Miracle World: It's like Super Mario but with larger, well detailed sprites and fun mechanics, maybe some of the best to offer by this console before the 90s.

-(Amiga)International Karate+: It is a very very simplistic fighting game that's easy to pick up but hard to master. There's better though in the 90s.

-(Amiga)Laser Squad: Great game at the time, spoiled only by the existence of XCOM 5 years later and the fact that the there are very few missions. The UI is rough.