Nintendo is always accused of milking it's franchises and putting out the same games over and over. And while they do pump out quite a bit of Mario games, people often forget how robust a line up this gaming giant truly has to it's resume. I'm going to list the Nintendo franchises off the top of my head that I remember when I used Wikipedia to go through the NES to Wii U generations to see how many franchises they published and/or developed. It hovered right around the 50 mark. Im gonna bunch the games together to save some space, then list my favorites at the end. I also seperate 2d and 3d mario, as well as 2d Metroid and Prime because, well, it's ky thread and I wanna. Just kidding, it's cuz they offer different experiences.
2D Mario . 3D Mario . Zelda . 2d Metroid . Metroid Prime . Star Fox . F Zero . Punchout . Pikmin . Animal Crossing . Fire Emblem . Pokemon . Mario Kart . Smash Bros . Paper Mario . Mario & Luigi RPG . Golden Sun . Kid Icarus . Balloon Fight . Donkey Kong Country . Yoshi series . Mario Party . Kirby . Excite series (bike, bots, truck) . Wars series (advance, battalion) . Waverace . Pilotwings . 1080 Snowboarding . Wii Series (Sports, Play, Party- I'm using them as one, you can also or can differentiate your favorite) .
These are only probably half of what's in Nintendo's stable. Mine goes:
6 Punch-Out!!
Probably not even in most people's top ten, but man are these games fun. Once you learn the fighters' patterns you can dominate them easily, which causes the game to have pretty low replay value without a multiplayer mode(besides the Wii one, but i didn't care for the mode). But that first playthrough is always a blast. I will buy every one of these that are ever made.
5 TIE - Paper Mario & Mario & Luigi RPG's
Confession- I am making this pick having played less than half the games in this series, however I can already see the magic. Although my pick of which of these is better varies, my opinion tends to shift towards Mario&Luigi RPG series for one simple reason... It reminds me more of the original Mario RPG, which is within my top 5 games of all time. It came out at the end of the SNES' life and you could tell, they had MASTERED the system by this game's release. So, so, so excellent, this game was. These 2 series carry on the spirit. Neither are as good as their great grandfather here, but they'll have to do, as we'll likely never see a formal Mario RPG 2.
4- Mario Kart
There's nothing like a great multiplayer experience with friends. And for that reason, there's nothing like Mario Kart. I am not a fan of racing games in the least, so single player mode doesn't do much for me. This one would be cracking 2nd-1st territory for me if I was a racing fan and able to appreciate the single player mode as much as the multi play.
3- Animal Crossing
As I'm a stubborn old man, I'm not quick to pick up new things. However, I fell in love the instant I popped my first AC game (New Leaf) into that 3ds, and a day hasn't gone by where I haven't snuck off to spend some QT with the folks in my town.
2- 3D Mario
To be honest, if Mario 64 had been the only game to ever have been released in the 3D Mario genre, it still might rank here. I have memories of sneaking on the bus with my friends to play this at Toys R Us before it came out, and it literally blew my mind, and, embarrasingly as a nerdy kid who lived for video games, literally changed my life. Sunshine didn't do much for me, but over a decade later, the Galaxy titles reminded me just what was so great about 3d Mario. They are, possibly, the best games ever made.
1- The Legend of Zelda
When I mentioned earlier that video games were my life, Hyrule was my residence. I started right at the beginning, with numero uno when I was 5 or so. Lttp released when I was about 9 and I used to have friends fight over who was sleeping over for Zelda night, because my mom had a 5 kid limit including me. LA & Oot were just as great. Everyone has their own favorite titles & ranking system for this series, but I'll save that for another thread. My top 4 are consistently Lttp, Oot, LA, WW in that order, with the 5th changing around constantly. Im hoping ALBW takes that position or higher indefinitely.
You don't see many " Top 6"'s around, but hey, these were my top @icks and I didn't want to force anything. I loved my Super Metroid & Starfox 64, among tons of other Nintendo games over the years, but these are the series that stuck with me due to consistnt excellence. I hope you enioyed
What's your list looo like? Any titles I didn't mention, or perhaps didn't even list as options?
NOTE: I have just started playing both Metroid Prime & Fire Emblem for the first time, and am really starting to like both, so it is very possible these will eventually take 1 or 2 of the slots on my list.
10. Kid Icarus
9. Mario Kart
8. Donkey Kong Country
7. Kirby
6. The Legend of Zelda
5. Super Smash Bros.
4. Animal Crossing
3. Super Mario
2. Pokemon
1. Pikmin
Because I have only played a few games in a lot of these series I'm mostly going to judge them based on my favourite game from each franchise.
10) Pokémon Mystery Dungeon (Explorers of Sky)
9) Kirby (Super Star Ultra)
8) Warioware (Mega Microgames)
7) Animal Crossing (New Leaf)
6) Mario Kart (DS)
5) Pokémon (Crystal)
4) Mario Platformers (Yoshi's Island)
3) The Legend of Zelda (Minish Cap)
2) Metroid (Fusion)
1) Fire Emblem (Awakening)
10)kirby
9)animal crossing
8)SSB
7)mario platformers
6)metroid
5)pokemon(not made by gamefreak)
4)mario kart
3)kid Icarus
2)fire emblem
1)pokemon(made by gamefreak)
Playing: Wargroove on Switch and Fire Emblem on GBA
#1. Super Mario #2. Mario & Luigi #3. Metroid #4. The Legend of Zelda #5. Donkey Kong Country #6. Mario Kart #7. Pokémon #8. Super Smash. Bros #9. Paper Mario #10. Kirby
Looking forward to: No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again
Like the Pikmin #1 pick! Bold! While it wasn't featured on my list, it still is top notch to me, and actually would probably rank #1 in my "Top Underrated Franchises" list for all games, not just Nintendo.
Curious about your Kid Icarus pick- As far as I know, there're only 2 KI titles, so I@m just curious, are you a retro head that grew up with the original or just love Uprising? Or both?
I never played the NES original, surprisingly, and found the control scheme on Uprising unenjoyable, though it otherwise was really good.
@Geonjaha, I'd rank Yoshi's Island under the Yoshi series (Island, Story, Island DS, New Island coming for 3DS), but nice list, otherwise. In fact, you just gave me the idea for ky next thread I'm going to go start writing right now!
To everyone, just realized I didn't put Smash on my list. What a dinkus. Maaaaaajor oversight. I knew it seemed short. It places at #3 for me, right behind the 3D Mario's.
1. Super Mario
2 Mario and Luigi/ Mario RPG's
3 The Legend of Zelda
4 Paper Mario
5. Fire Emblem
6. Mario Kart
7. Kirby
8. Animal Crossing
9. Pokemon
10. Kid Icarus
I can never rank anything without deciding to change it later. :/
me too but I like this kind of thread, it's a blast at first and in little to no time it fades away
goodbyes are a sad part of life but for every end there's a new beggining so one must never stop looking forward to the next dawn
now working at IBM as helpdesk analyst my Backloggery
Kirby is the only Nintendo franchise I've never been able to get into. Did you grow up with it? What's your age now?
I ask because, while I hate when people label Nintendo games as "kiddie", I can't help but do that with Kirby, and I feel it's the reason I can't get into it.
What is it you like about Kirby games? Why rank them over a Mario, Sonic, or Rayman for example? Curious to read your response. Maybe it'll shed some light onto the series for me.
@MrWalkieTalkie Curious about your Kid Icarus pick- As far as I know, there're only 2 KI titles, so I@m just curious, are you a retro head that grew up with the original or just love Uprising? Or both?
No, even I didn't really enjoy the original NES game. But Uprising was truly something! I absolutely loved every second of it and it's left such a strong impression on me since, and I would do anything for another installment that doesn't take 25 years to get made.
@LetsGoRetro
Kirby was my first game of my first console I'm 19 now and started playing kirby when I was 7. 12 years of Kirby right in my head. and I'm one of those who like super colorful things even if they look kiddy. I think the fact I've started with it might influence, but I love the gameplay, artwork, the lighthearted setting and the copy abilities.
goodbyes are a sad part of life but for every end there's a new beggining so one must never stop looking forward to the next dawn
now working at IBM as helpdesk analyst my Backloggery
10. Kirby
9. 2D Super Mario Platformer
8. Pikmin
7. Metroid Prime
6. Animal Crossing
5. Super Smash Bros.
4. Donkey Kong Country
3. 3D Super Mario (especially the Super Mario Galaxy games)
2. The Legend of Zelda
1. Pokemon
Friend Code: SW-6500-0179-5813
Super Smash Bros Mains:
Kirby, King Dedede, Mega Man
In no particular order, just picking things off the top of my head (not all are exactly "Nintendo" but whatever)
Pikmin, Super Monkey Ball, Paper Mario, Viewtiful Joe, Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Mario Sports games, 3D Mario games, F-Zero, and maaaybe Wario Ware or Mario Party.
I've been playing a lot of Super Monkey Ball and Super Monkey Ball 2 lately...and it makes me said knowing that it went WAY downhill after the Wii version was released. I want Super Monkey Ball 3...or 10..or whatever it is now...with classic gameplay using ANALOG sticks. Having an alternative mode where you tilt the gamepad to control the monkey would be fun, but I don't want that to be the PRIMARY gameplay. WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO AMUSEMENT VISION THEY MADE GREAT GAMES WAAAH. Okay complaining over.
I've never played a Pokemon game, so I probably should. And I haven't had much experience with Metroid/Zelda/Donkey Kong games, so maybe I'll get Wind Waker HD and DK Tropical Freeze to see what all of the hype is about.
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Topic: Your top 10 Nintendo franchises
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