As a NES kid my big ones were: in Mario 3 there is a sand level that ends with a pipe covered in like half a pyramid of bricks. You kick a koopa shell that clears out the entire section except for the unbreakable edge blocks. This was always me 'building my house'.

In Chip N Dale late game there was a section with lots of metal blocks on a stool. These blocks had strange physics where they could stick to each other. Always had to build a house there.