Game Of The Decade - The Best Games On Nintendo Systems 2010-2019

I'm just glad Odyssey beat out Galaxy 2.

QUICK EDIT: Don't get me wrong, the Galaxy titles had some very creative ideas. But it's the poor motion controls that ended up giving Odyssey the edge over the Galaxy titles.

Breath of the Wild was good. I liked it. But not as good as the scores would suggest, imho.

Best game for me was Super Mario 3D World on the Wii U. For me, most of the best game were on the Wii U. Yet none are on the list. Each to their own, I guess.

None of Atlus' fantastic 3DS games made the cut?

Well, VLR is present, and BotW is on its throne, so whatever. Not a bad list at all.

So glad to see Zero Escape games and Ghost Trick so highly rated. I own 43 of these games and I've beaten almost all of them. There are also two that I haven't even started yet.

I guess people really love Shovel Knight since it's twice on the list. And the 3DS version is actually higher than the Switch version.

EDIT: I guess this is an everchanging list so giving an exact number was kind of dumb.

Nintendolife what is a Wii U?

@PipA This is as voted for by users. So not enough readers played the wii U to vote up the games on it

Excluding Pokemon because I didn’t play that, the same top 5 games in the exact same order as I put them in my own personal list. Xenoblade Chronicles on Switch already a strong contender for game of the 2020’s

@lumothesinner Good point. Didn't think of that. I played almost all my Wii U games in local two player mode. That must have made the difference as well.

I'm extremely happy to see Ghost Trick ranked so high. I urge anyone to play it who has a slight interest in puzzle and visual novel games. It's still one of my favourite games of all time to this day.

Wow, I am so happy to see Xenoblade Chronicles so highly regarded ^^

I cannot wait for the new version...and I will cry tears of sadness and joy throughout. (Ow and of course smashing mobs with ridiculous combos!!!)

Love that the DS more than holds its own in a “best of the decade” list. Lovely to see Ghost Trick, in particular, so high up. No argument about Breath of the Wild as #1, though - that’s where I’d put it. Who thought we’d go a whole decade, though, and Samus doesn’t appear in the end list?

flip 5 and 4 around, then 12 and 1....

Feels like a couple of entries should be disqualified or removed. Shovel Knight takes up two slots with the original and Treasure Trove, which makes zero sense. The Phoenix Wright games are great games but I don't know if they're qualified for this decade since they're 90% straight up ports from last decade.

Glad to see a WiiU game at the top spot (fine, in its Switch incarnation, but we all know which platform it was meant to be for)

Splatoon 1 or 2 not being in the Top 10 is just wrong. Not being in the Top 20 is ridiculous but not even being in the Top 30 is criminal.

@TJWorks Nintendo does ports pretty often.
Shovel Knight takes 2 spots because one is 3DS and the other Switch.
The list is not static, it even changed before I was done scrolling through all of it.
You can influence it with your ratings, but majority speaks

Where's skyward sword?

@Dartmonkey Great list!! As a follow up article, what about throwing some stats around these 50 (or even 100 games if you have them ranked)? And share some relevant cross-references like % of games that are a Remastered Edition, games that are a Nintendo Exclusive, Mainstream Studio vs Indie, Standalone vs a games Series... Just an idea. Happy New Year for you and the NL staff!!

Honestly so glad that a Ghost Trick and 999 are that high. A bit miffed that BotW is that far in front, it’s a good game but not a patch on Galaxy 2, Heart Gold or even Mario Odyssey.

@TheAwesomeBowser Nooooooo, both Galaxy games were better than Odyssey. The many creative ideas in Galaxy's numerous worlds vastly outshine the repetitiveness of Odysseys few worlds.

Happy New Year all! The last decade was packed full of many awesome games. Here's to hoping the next ten years have just as many amazing hits!

I guess it’s to be expected when you are just compiling user scores and ranking them, but the order is really strange. Really liked Ghost Trick but it’s not quite the number 8 game of the decade. Same with Professor Layton even though I also enjoy those games.

It’s like a group of people were annoyed that the game was underrated and shot up the score too high.

There should be Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Arms, Link’s Awakening, and Skyward Sword on this list.

Here's my top Nintendo games of the decade:

1. Breath of the Wild
2. Animal Crossing New Leaf
3. Pokemon Black/White
4. Pokemon Black 2/White 2
5. Pokemon X/Y
6. Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver
7. Pokemon OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire
8. Super Mario Odyssey
9. Mario Kart 8
10. I'm struggling to think of anything else, so shout out to Golden Sun Dark Dawn - not the best game, but it wasn't so bad as to kill the series! For shame.

I know... Pokemon dominated. If we expanded to third parties, there would still be quite a bit of Pokemon, but it would be a bit more balanced. Up until Sun/Moon, Pokemon was doing great for me this decade, and I can't just sweep that under the rug even if it makes my list look imbalanced. Lol.

I Looooooved Xenoblade Chronicles 1, but I'm not sure if this game vould beat Mario Galaxy or Odyssey though.......

Happy to see that there’s tons of rabid XBC1-fans out there. Can’t wait for the Switch-release.

Honestly surprised we just kind of ignored the original mario galaxy, but I mostly like this list, I just wish more people had played the wii u so games like 3d world would have been on the list .

I love that so many great games made the list, including several that are typically overlooked like Dragon Quest VI.
That said, it is A-stounding that neither Skyward Sword nor Pokémon GO made the list, and that there’s not a single Wii U game up there.

@Keitoded The original Mario Galaxy was not eligible for the list, as it was released before 2010

For me 3D world should be in top 20. The post-credits content is awesome and it’s a hoot in multiplayer. Otherwise I’m on board with this list.

I guess there's something really wrong in me... being a massive Zelda fan, and botw was one of my least favorite games of the saga. Seeing this game so highly rated on all these lists, I'm like damn, what happened here? Apart from that, we saw some pretty good games this decade. Happy to still see some games from Wii and Ds. Sad for the Wii U, that system will be recognized (I hope) in the future for being one of a hell of a console.

Call'd it with BotW taking top spot. It's just the obvious choice for "most ambitious/top quality" Nintendo game.

I hate Gold and Silver, so I don't agree with their placement up there. Personally if you were going to have a Pokemon game in the top 5, it should be Black and White. Alas, c'est la vie.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 was the best game of the decade and one of the best of all time. Glad users didn't forget about the great NDS and Wii games.

When Switch first released back in March 2017, I made a list of games I’d love to see ported to the new system. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective was in my top five... so it’s fabulous to see it feature so highly here.

Now, how about that Switch port, Capcom!?

@ALinkttPresent Oh duh, I forgot it came out 2007 because I first played it in the 2010s so it was like a 2010 game for me. Thanks for clearing up my confusion!

Even though I had a very rough relationship with BoTW after so many years of “puzzeldas” I ended up embracing its design and today I’m loving it beyond belief after 200 hours. That being said, if they somehow manage to implement a greater story + proper dungeons in the sequel, we might be talking about another game of the decade rather soon.

@ALinkttPresent Eh, I'd count BOTW and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Wii U as the former was a dual release and the latter is just a port. But it is a bit bizarre that Super Smash Bros for the 3DS made the list but not Super Smash Bros for Wii U, and the same goes for Super Mario 3D Land but not 3D World.

I think someone above mentioned that these lists are based off of user scores. I think that's the reason. The Wii U titles were played by less people, so they don't even get a chance. But if that's not the case, then wow, the Wii U's really just getting swept under the rug for no reason. Oh well, BOTW and Mario Kart 8 are on these list, and I will credit both to Wii U. I don't care what anyone says.

It’s interesting this list covers 3 generations of Nintendo consoles. I like seeing so many DS games on this list, as that console had great games even in 2010 and after so glad they made the cut.

I strongly disagree with BotW at number 1 though. Once I got past the initial ‘wow this world is big’, I just got bored of it like I do all open world games. I really much prefer the older Zelda formula, I hope they still make new games using it in the future (not just remakes like Link’s Awakening).

Yeah, bizarre to see the Wii U get shut out. True that it sold poorly, but surely more people played Smash for Wii U and 3D World than most of those obscure RPGs on the list. How exactly is the ranking determined though? If there's only one rating and it's 10/10, does the game go to the top automatically?

@Harmonie I’m not sure the lower number of user reviews for Wii U games would impact them not appearing on this list. The scores are calculated as an average, and as long as a minimum number of reviews for a game are received that average can be used. I can’t remember what that minimum threshold is, but I don’t think it was unreasonable (maybe just 10). Looking at BotW for Wii U on the site now, I see it scores 9.5 so would have made this list, I guess they didn’t include it as it would effectively be a duplicate of the Switch entry.

So much disrespect to the Wii U. Real Nintendo fans will remember that era.

RIP Wii U 2012-2017

#NeverForget

I loved both Breath of the Wild and Odyssey. Both are all-time greats, but Breath of the Wild I think will be historic, similar to Mario 64 and the first Super Mario Bros.

Wii U was a flawed system with horrible marketing and poor third party support, but some wonderful first party games. It was a great foundation for the Switch.

Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 were awesome, but held back by the forced motion controls of the Wii. Outside of the Virtual Boy, the Wii was likely my least favorite Nintendo console. I liked the Virtual Console, though.

I like reading ranking lists, but this voting system is just stupid.

It almost looks like the WiiU has been omitted on purpose. (I'm sure it's just an error with how the list is generated. I'm not into the conspiracy junk.)

From what I can tell, it is based on at least 100 user ratings as the lowest number of user ratings is 102 for Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (3DS).

For the WiiU, the highest user rated title (other than BoTW) is Wind Waker HD with a user score of 9.2 based on 631 user ratings. I think this would be 7th on this list.

Let's hope that @dartmonkey or @nintendolife will fix this.

Xenoblade 2 makes it and X does not? A travesty!

I think if the list was done a bit better, then there would be several WiiU titles on it including Wind Waker HD, Mario Kart 8 (rates higher than the Switch version), Bayonetta 2 (again, higher than Switch), Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Splatoon, Super Mario 3D World, Super Mario Maker, Rayman Legends, Pikmin 3, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Twilight Princess HD.

@antdickens Thanks for the repair! That'll make us WiiU fans a bit happier.

I'm not too sure if the code can be setup to avoid obvious duplicates. While I think BoTW is pretty good, I'm not too sure it's good enough to be both #1 and #2.

@TheAwesomeBowser not agree at all, controls and overall experience is so much better in galaxy series for me...

@PipA I loved that game I beat it with my family. It's so fun. That and nintendo land

Imo Mario Odyssey is overrated. The core adventure is only 15 hours long and the moons you collect feel too insignificant because of how many there are. Galaxy, Mario 64 and even Sunshine are more hearty adventures and progress feels more substantial compared to Odyssey. I've tried to go back and return to the levels to collect more moons but there isn't enough incentive. Am I missing something?

Apart from that I'm happy Ocarina 3d and Breath of the wild are in the top 10, they're probably my most played games of the decade.

Pretty good list put together by the community. That said, I think a few tweaks could have been made to the voting system. For example, I really don't think Shovel Knight needed to be here 3 times. The list should only consider the version that got ranked the highest and remove the other two to make room for other games.

Wow. The Wii U suddenly appeared! =P

I'm especially pleased to see that Mario Kart 8 actually outranks Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Most of the credit should go to the original, after all.

Amazing that the Wii U only sold 13 million units and the Switch has surpassed 42 million, that means around 27-28 million people likely never knew many of the Switch games they love got their start on the Wii U.

Very happy for Kirby Planet Robobot, Hollow Knight, and Mario Galaxy 2!!!

However overall this list is freaking bonkers. Shovel Knight is on here multiple times and remakes of much older classics being on here seems sort of unfair. Like give this decade's classics their time to shine n64 Zeldas!!!

Just bizarre

@NotTelevision Epic Yarn is no game of the decade. Skyward Sword is underrated tho imo

Most Wii U ports for Switch are inferior in their original console, yet in many instances surpass the latter score. With the inclusion of Wii U, this list is now useless given all the redundancy.

I don't mind the inclusion of ports
If they are good enough to defeat the new games this decade had to offer they deserve their place on the list.
But placing the same game on different Nintendo platforms across the list makes it useless.

@ilh i fully agree

Good list overall. Love to see xenoblade so high. That game is one of the best games in history.

I couldn’t agree more with this amazing list of Masterpieces!!! The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is truly the Best game of the last Decade; if not, Best game of all time!!! It really is a Masterpiece and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t played it yet!!!

Yet another reason to end ports and portbegging, as they make listicles like this too difficult to make.

1) BotW Switch
2) BotW Wii U
3) BotW emulated

@Friscobay

Man, Ghost Trick! What a game! The story was so unique and thrilling. And the animations! And I could never forget best boy Missile. Superb.

I don't suppose the list can be edited to remove double-ups like Shovel Knight appearing three times in vastly different spots, and BotW in the top two spots? Seems a bit weird otherwise.

Counting console versions separately really diluted this list. We didn’t need shovel night in three different iterations. Totally dumb.

Well this list is a mess, seeing the same game come back on different consoles, even the number 1 spot.

NintendoLife, this isn’t criticism. But I think you could do with the advise.

I may be the only person in comments to say this, but I think this process was broken and the list wasn’t ever going to reflect the true feelings of the community.

Hear me out. I’m talking from professional experience, not because the game I wanted wasn’t top (it was).

There were a few problems with this process: Too many games to choose from. Too many votes per person without restriction. And there was no way everyone (or even 5% of people) were going to give this the attention it needed.

The process needed to be simpler.

My personal experience is I spent about 10 minutes on the list voting the ones I saw and searching the ones I remembered, but I didn’t finish going through the whole thing and I didn’t go back to it after I remembered some games. Also, I voted for every game I had an interest in because I didn’t want them to be beaten to t shovel ware.

This would be the case for the vast majority of people completing this list. (If I could share analytical data from work, I could prove how human nature backs this up). Some would have pored over this list for ages, most would have liked a couple of games and left.

Then we look at the end result and we see multiple of the same games on the list but with different console versions. The list had a lot of duplicates and the order is highly debatable.

I have noticed this as a pattern on the site. It isn’t the first time you have given us too many options. And speaking from professional experience here, if you want the best results, you have to make it simpler.

Here’s something I’d recommend:

1 - Whittle the list down yourselves. Get rid of the junk titles (and there was some clear shovel ware in that list) and make it a more concise list to choose from at the start. Also think of combining titles like Wii U and Switch versions of the same game.

2 - Do this whole process in stages. Let the community gradually reduce the list as the least popular get taken out until 200 titles (maximum) remain. Maybe just 150 or 100 but it’s your choice.

3 - Do a final vote but limit the number of votes each person can cast. You will have had people voting for 30+ games on this list whilst others only voted for 1 or 2. Limiting votes per person helps people be more careful what they choose. They only select their absolute favourites.

4 - release the results in stages. 40-31, 30-21, 20-11 and 10-1 (you could even split the top 10 into two or release the top five or ten as separate articles to highlight each gaming masterpiece).

This gives you more hits for your site, more spotlight on the games and more opportunity for the community to discuss the great games.

However, you can only do that if you get it right from the start. Because I could have given this advice as soon as I saw the voting process. And I did. But only voiced my opinion to my wife and not to you guys.

I know this was only a bit of fun and there is more work involved if you want to get it to what it could be, but you will get a much more credible end result.

You will not only bring the best games to the fore but will better allow the community to order their top 40.

@dartmonkey, Why did this list change from initial publication? Attached is an image showing a list of the games in text form that I read on New Year's Day, and the list is not the same 24 hours later. It's confusing to readers to say the least.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/481571612630450177/662177205526331394/Screenshot_20200102-001117_Twitter.jpg

@Harmonie @HenryKissinger WiiU is for me the best console Nintendo made. It was destroyed by an inept marketing.
Imagine what would BoTW be like had they not had to abandon the wiiu as the main platform (all the second screen functionality).
3D World on WiiU is the best new Mario game to date. Odyssey is good but not 3D World good.

@dartmonkey thanks for actually reading my comment and replying to it.

I know you will never find a process that suits everyone. But even if you keep the various versions, that’s fine, the main point of my comment was to help you to see the need to streamline the process to get the best end result.

I want you guys to succeed hence why I took the time to give my viewpoint. Most of us commenting care, even if we sound like we are moaning. And I speak from someone who works in a similar field of trying to get the most out of online audiences.

Yeah I think the biggest problem here is the redundancy factor of having some games on the list multiple times for identical or nearly identical versions. It's a bit silly to call Breath of the Wild both the best game of the decade and the second best game of the decade. Not to mention silly things like updated ports that are straight up better being ranked lower than the originals like Tropical Freeze and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Link Between Worlds, Ghost Trick, Super Mario Odyssey... Such different games, and all so amazing. Love Nintendo platforms.

@Ralizah If the Switch had Persona 5 it would of made the cut.

Good stuff on the list. While it might be very tempting for me to vote Breath of the wild (Wii u version, of course), I really need to look back and decide what was REALLY the best. I can't pull that straight out of my hat.

Some of the WiiU/Switch stuff should have definitely been combined. What a pointless list.

You had no reason to put the Wii U and Switch versions of the same game on here. Please pick more games to fill up the slots and add more variety.

A list like this for all time would be sweet