Mission: Impossible (1990)

Tempting as it is to include the fantastic Impossible Mission platform/puzzle games of the 1980s in this list, they don’t really count, though they do still feature the greatest somersaults in gaming history. So instead we jump forward to 1990, when the Nintendo Entertainment System was blessed with a game based on the short-lived 1988 reboot of the TV series.

This time we have an officially licensed game, developed by Konami, that was released just in time to mark the TV version’s cancellation after just 35 episodes. (The original 60s/70s Mission: Impossible ran for 171 episodes, with Leonard Nimoy appearing in 49 of them.) The IMF team is tasked with rescuing Jane Badler’s character, Shannon Reed, along with “Dr. O,” an IMF scientist, all through the magic of top-down 1990 action.

You could switch between three characters, Max Harte, Grant Collier and Nicholas Black, each with their own skills as they charged through Venice, Switzerland, and all those good Eurozone adventure locations.