Metroid - Sony Pictures Animation

Metroid X Sony Pictures Animation
Image: Nintendo Life / Nintendo, Sony

Yet another very easy sell from us: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, except it's Metroid. Yes.

Seeing how Sony Pictures Animation can really make an action sequence pop (both in Spider-Verse and The Mitchells Vs. The Machines), you'd be lying if you said that taking those comic book visuals to space doesn't get you excited.

Pikmin - Cartoon Saloon

Pikmin X Cartoon Saloon
Image: Nintendo Life / Nintendo, Cartoon Saloon

You may not have heard of Cartoon Saloon, the Ireland-based animation studio behind such hand-drawn gems as The Song of the Sea, The Bread Winner, and WolfWalkers, but just trust us, they are made for Pikmin (also, you should definitely watch WolfWalkers, just saying).

The studio has a real flare for pastoral settings and showing the world from a perspective that you may not have considered before — isn't that what Pikmin is all about? Of course not, it's about picking tiny little guys out of the ground and chucking them at pieces of fruit, but it's kind of romantic to think the other way.

As one of the few animation houses still leaning on a hand-drawn style, the studio would be able to use this creativity to bring Olimar and co. to life in a way that is cute and, importantly, not creepy. Nobody wants to see a realistically rendered Pikmin, after all.

Pokémon - OLM Inc.

Pokémon X OLM Inc.
Image: Nintendo Life / Nintendo, OLM Inc.

As the age-old phrase so rightfully notes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

We have already had Pokémon movies a-plenty, but that doesn't really mean that we don't have room for more, right? OLM, Inc. (who incidentally made the aforementioned Animal Crossing anime adaptation) has helmed the translation of the franchise since way back in 1997, and the thought of anyone else doing it is enough to send a shiver down our spine.

There are currently 23 Pokémon feature films out there, so of all of the entries on this outlandish list, we would say that this is probably the one which absolutely positively will happen. Again.

Splatoon - Pixar

Splatoon X Pixar
Image: Nintendo Life / Nintendo, Pixar

Over the years, Pixar has asked the big questions. What if fish had feelings? What if cars had feelings? What if, erm, feelings had feelings? So who would be better to take on — with the utmost sincerity, of course — What if kids were squids?

Look, it would be colourful and bright and near-guaranteed to make you cry at the end (if you dare touch Smallfry, I swear...). Basically, Pixar is made for this.

You get Deep Cut singing over a tune by Michael Giacchino (probably) and you're onto a winner.

Star Fox - 20th Century Animation (Wes Anderson)

Star Fox X 20th Century Animation
Image: Nintendo Life / Nintendo, 20th Century Animation

There are a bunch of styles adopted by 20th Century Animation, with anything from The Simpsons Movie to Alvin and the Chipmunks falling under its banner. That's why we were keen to put the brackets in the heading above. Yep, we want Fantastic Mr. Star Fox.

There's something about the Star Fox crew that feels like they would be well suited to the real-fur stop motion of Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs. Regardless of what you think of the actual game, you have to admit that the gang looked cool in Star Fox Zero. 20th Century Animation would take that furriness and dial it up to 11.

If Anderson is at the helm (and we're assuming that he would be in this fantasy scenario where we can sit anyone in the director's chair), then we would be 100% up for Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Adrien Brody making cameos in the voice cast. Wait, this idea is getting better by the second...

Xenoblade - Studio Mir

Xenoblade X Toon City
Image: Nintendo Life / Nintendo, Toon City

That leads us, finally, onto Xenoblade. Much like Fire Emblem, we'd feel somewhat dirty if we were to imagine a feature film adaptation without the series' anime backbone. The number of studios that could achieve this is beyond count, but the idea of handing the ropes over to relative newcomers Studio Mir feels like a good shout.

Xenoblade is a difficult one to tie down in terms of what would be absolutely required for a movie, but Studio Mir has experience in all areas that seem important: adventure in The Legend of Korra, mecha combat in Voltron: Legendary Defender, and a good dose of deep character analysis in Harley Quinn (though maybe turn down the adult content on this one a little).

Combine all of that with the lush landscapes and character designs afforded by the source material, and you're onto something special.

Well, there you have it: 13 of Nintendo's most popular franchises and the animation studios that we could see being the best fit for their adaptation (as unlikely as they are).

Now it's your turn. eel free to vote in the poll below, and take to the comments to let us know what you think of our pairings and maybe suggest some other ones of your own. Who knows, maybe together we will make enough noise to get some of them made!

Which is your favourite Nintendo X Animation Studio pairing from the ones above?