50. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GCN)

Super Mario Kart invented the formula and Mario Kart 64 drove us into the 3D world, so by the time it came for the GameCube to receive its very own racer, it needed a hook.

That hook would come via Double Dash’s dual-driver system that added a creatively fun wrinkle to the already rock-solid foundations of before. It not only presented a new challenge to solo players, but opened up the playbook for multiplayer frivolity, briefly freeing Mario Kart from its free-for-all shackles with a dose of teamwork.

It would go on to become the second-highest-selling GameCube game ever, destined to both forge and destroy friendships with blue shells for years to come.

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Simon Cardy (IGN)

49. Luigi's Mansion 3 (Switch)

Essentially the best Ghostbusters game we’ve yet to play, Luigi’s Mansion 3 puts Mario’s often overshadowed brother into the spotlight in his third, and best, haunted outing.

The Switch exclusive found new levels of variety inside the already established “suck and snag” formula to great effect, as Luigi’s ectoplasmic doppelganger, Gooigi, fully joined in on the fun this time around, following his introduction in the 3DS remake of the original.

Not only did this gloopy green ghosthunter add a welcome cooperative wrinkle to proceedings, but he also brought a whole new bag of puzzle-solving tricks along with him. Luigi’s Mansion finally gave the taller Super Mario brother his own adventure to headline, and this threequel is the best example of why he deserved it.

Simon Cardy (IGN)

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48. Wii Sports (Wii)

A sensation of almost unparalleled popularity, there’s arguably never been a system seller of the same scale as Wii Sports since Tetris landed on the original Game Boy.

Packed in with every console, this collection of bowling, tennis, golf, baseball, and boxing kept family members of all ages enthralled just as much as it boosted the TV repair business due to free-flying Wii remotes.

It’s not complex, nor does it display a level of wild creativity Nintendo is renowned for, but its beautiful simplicity delivered one thing above all: fun. And isn’t that the most important factor of all?

Simon Cardy (IGN)

47. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch)

We could throw around adjectives like ‘dreamy’ for a bunch of iconic Zelda locales, but few feel as deserving of the title as Koholint Island. Regardless of whether you play it on Game Boy, Game Boy Color, or Switch, Link’s Awakening remains one of the series’ very best entries, every bit as enchanting today as it was in 1993.

It has everything you’d want from a classic Zelda — puzzle-y dungeons, crafty collectables, a stunning overworld — but it holds such an intriguing mystery at its core that it may just boast one of the most memorable endings to any of Link’s adventures.

We might have played it on three different consoles already, but a return trip to the land of the Wind Fish is always a dream.

Jim Norman (Nintendo Life)

46. F-Zero X (N64)

As much as Nintendo likes to make their games as accessible as possible by including game-balancing and catch-up mechanics, F-Zero X represents that side of Nintendo design that is uncompromisingly focused on player skill and technical prowess.

F-Zero X is a high-speed pack-racing tour de force that pits players against 29 other racers on twisting and turning courses. You may be tempted to play bumper cars with that many racers on track (you can spin-attack them), but F-Zero also requires careful balancing of your craft’s energy which fuels both boost and shield power.

That risk vs reward setup is front and centre in F-Zero X – and it’s easy to forget about what’s left in the proverbial tank when you’re racing on the outside of a magnetic pipe at 620mph.

Peer Schneider (IGN)

45. Super Mario Bros. (NES)

This is it. The culmination of Nintendo's game-making expertise up to this point. The Alpha, the Omega. There's nothing left to say. It's the original and the best.

Except it isn't the best, is it? After 40 years of iteration — four entire decades of analysis and refinement — it's only natural that the first 'Super' Mario Bros. isn't quite as super anymore. Yet the design principles put down by Miyamoto and Tezuka here made this the go-to, 101 text for an entire medium.

We forget, too, how quickly Super Mario Bros.' wonderland weirdness became 'normal' through sheer quality. Just a moment with the NES' angular pad and the strangeness of this little moustachioed man's world, a place where you jump on turtles' backs and hit floating boxes to reveal gliding, size-doubling mushrooms, seemed totally normal. Natural, even!

As the developers would go on to demonstrate many, many times (hi, Odyssey), when you make a game this good, anything goes.

Gavin Lane (Nintendo Life)

44. Banjo-Kazooie (N64)

Now a Microsoft studio, UK-based Rare was at one time something of an evil twin of the world’s best development team. Rare’s games were very “Nintendo” – but often with a dark streak and a twinkle in their eye.

Banjo-Kazooie (and the underappreciated, but nearly as brilliant sequel Banjo-Tooie) shares a lot of DNA with Mario 64 – but it adds a wicked sense of humour and a visual style that makes it stand on its own two paws. From the taunts of its rhyming antagonist to the ridiculous transformations and the “thaaaaaannk you” flower pots (yeah, we all heard something different), Banjo-Kazooie keeps players chuckling throughout.

But it’s the top-tier level design and the collection of musical earworms that make BK truly unforgettable. Whether it’s the oversized organ hitting all the right notes in Mad Monster Mansion or spotting differences among the changing seasons in Click Clock Wood, Banjo-Kazooie is a delight that’s not to be missed.

Peer Schneider (IGN)

43. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch)

What if Mario was an elephant? What if King Boo was an opera singer? What if Piranha Plants marched to the beat of their own catchy tune? Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s answer to all of these questions is a confident, “Yes, and?”

Wonder was the refresh 2D Mario desperately needed after nearly two decades of competent-but-samey New Super Mario Bros. games, and you can feel the pent-up creativity bursting from all corners of the Flower Kingdom. The imaginative Wonder Flower mechanics add surprise and delight to each stage, and the fresh art style and detailed animations – like the way Mario plucks his hat out of the air when entering a Warp Pipe – make Wonder the best-looking 2D Mario since at least Super Mario World.

Aside from its somewhat clunky multiplayer, Wonder feels like the first true successor to the classic NES and SNES Super Mario games, and it proved Nintendo can still make some of the best 2D platformers out there.

Logan Plant (IGN)

42. Mario Kart World (Switch 2)

Nintendo had to do something special with Mario Kart World. Not only was this the first 100% new console entry in the flagship racing series in 11 years, it was also to be the poster child of Switch 2, and the day-one purchase for most people picking up the system.

It’s a testament to the devs, then, just how refined the series’ tried-and-tested formula feels. There’s a lot to love about Mario Kart World — the wonderfully frantic Knockout Mode, intense 24-driver races, the all-timer soundtrack — and while it might not have thrown out the rulebook to quite the extent that some were hoping, you’ll be hard pushed to get more smiles from a racer.

The perfect introduction to a new console generation and some of the finest driving we’ve seen from Nintendo’s prized plumber.

Jim Norman (Nintendo Life)

41. The Legend of Zelda (NES)

The Legend of Zelda introduced a whole new way of bringing wonderfully dense atmosphere to the world of video games. Zelda laid a foundation strong enough to succeed against the side-scrolling console trends of the time, to stay the course and deliver...well, let's just say this series went places.

Played now, it still holds up thanks to tight design for each of the dungeons. While it may be nowhere near as complex as Link's latest, the base of that oh-so-addictive adventuring sauce was already being cooked up here.

PJ O'Reilly (Nintendo Life)

40. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GCN)

Super Smash Bros. Melee has essentially single-handedly kept the secondhand market for CRT televisions alive for the last 15 years. Passionate Smash Bros. fans keep lugging the unwieldy boxes around to tournaments all over the world, because that’s just how enduring Melee is.

Masahiro Sakurai’s GameCube masterpiece is still the fastest, deepest, most technical fighting game Nintendo’s ever produced, and top players continue to make new discoveries that push the competitive scene forward. It’s not just for the pros, though – Melee is an amazing game for casual players, too, with a ridiculous amount of modes, items, characters, stages, and unlockables that can keep you busy for hundreds of hours.

If you’re not sold on Melee’s legacy, look no further than the fact that Nintendo still sells GameCube controller adapters for each new Smash entry so stubborn fans (us included) can keep playing with 24-year-old hardware because it just doesn’t feel right any other way.

Logan Plant (IGN)

39. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch)

Forgotten Land took Sakurai's son and placed him in a 3D adventure of which even the mighty Mario would be proud. The introduction of mouthful mode proved to be a masterstroke, both in building hype through some highly entertaining trailers and in gameplay itself, sitting comfortably alongside Kirby's usual gamut of copy abilities to make for the most rewarding and challenging outing for the food-gobbling good guy thus far.

Throw in a top-notch world full of fun puzzles, perfectly pitched boss fights, and plenty of collectables, and we're in big win city.

PJ O'Reilly (Nintendo Life)

38. Super Mario RPG (Switch)

In 1996, Square took the beloved turn-based fundamentals of its Final Fantasy series and applied them to a wholly unexpected new world: Super Mario.

Technically, the first Mario game to have gameplay in a 3D environment, it was a striking technical achievement for the time, but Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars also managed to perform alchemy and combine what made both of its touchstones so successful.

Its party and battle systems were comfortably familiar, yet still complex enough to engage Square RPG veterans, but layered on top of this was a level of charm, colour, and humour that was expected from a Nintendo Mario game. Its legacy remains to this day, almost 30 years later, with remasters, remakes, and spin-offs in no short supply.

Simon Cardy (IGN)

37. Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA)

Nintendo is, and has always been, big on remakes – so it wasn’t a huge surprise when it announced a return to the original NES Metroid with GBA’s Metroid: Zero Mission. But when it arrived in 2004 amidst a Metroid renaissance started by Prime and Fusion, it didn’t just turn out to be better than the original – it even outperformed the biggest Metroid fans’ raised expectations.

Zero Mission isn’t just a prettier version of the game that started it all, it uses familiarity with the original as a way to surprise players with the unknown. While the return to the original location supplies all the nostalgic feels returning players were hoping for, the something old and something borrowed quickly makes way for something new... and something blue.

Samus sheds her power suit to add a heavy dose of stealth to the usual exploration and combat-heavy Metroid experience. Add to that a whole new area and an emphasis of not just tolerating, but encouraging sequence-breaking, and you’ve got a timeless classic absolutely worth going back to.

Peer Schneider (IGN)

36. GoldenEye 007 (N64)

It’s hard to imagine a time when first-person shooters and consoles weren’t a perfect match, but before GoldenEye 007’s N64 release in 1997, any FPS using a D-pad was largely unplayable. But then, Developer Rare did the unthinkable.

Not only did it manage to translate a popular PC genre onto a Nintendo 64 controller, but it created a licensed game that was a genuine game of the year contender, seemingly an impossible feat not only back in 1997, but still to this day!

GoldenEye became a standard bearer for not only movie tie-in games but first-person shooters in general. Decades later, many pretenders (and even a direct remake) have failed to capture that magical formula.

Dale Driver (IGN)

35. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (Switch)

The Wii U was already in trouble just a year after launch, but the hardcore Nintendo faithful who owned it by November 2013 were treated to Super Mario 3D World. Nintendo took 3D Land’s, well, three-dimensional take on the classic Super Mario Bros. formula and threw every idea they had at it.

There’s the Double Cherry power-up that gives you control of multiple Marios at once, clear pipes where you have to wisely choose your path, and, of course, the iconic Cat Suit. Every level introduces a clever new idea, and the whole experience is enhanced when you add more players to the mix, as 3D World has the best multiplayer in any Super Mario game, no question.

The definitive Switch version added the wonderfully experimental Bowser’s Fury, which some hope could be a template for an open-world Mario game in the future.

Logan Plant (IGN)

34. Star Fox 64 (N64)

These days, Star Fox has a far bigger problem than the insidious Andross' designs on the Lylat system: no series entry has ever recaptured the glory of this on-rails masterpiece from 1997.

We've seen some intriguing experiments in the decades since (enough to keep Fox fans' flames burning, at least), but Nintendo EAD utterly nailed the arcade-y shooter formula with this sequel. Adding 64-bit spectacle and wonderfully corny voice acting to the framework of the Super NES original led to a nigh-on perfect realisation of blockbuster movie majesty in video game form.

Today, it's still a sensory feast; the N64's spindly, precise analogue stick forming up with a gently throbbing Rumble Pak to deliver cinematic bombast that also has subtlety. Star Fox 64 is a class act.

No game is perfect, of course. But Slippy Toad aside, they don't come much closer than this.

Gavin Lane (Nintendo Life)

33. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch)

Retro Studios’ second crack at a Donkey Kong Country game turned out to be one of the best 2D platformers of all time. It’s hard to imagine a more cinematic sidescroller than Tropical Freeze, with incredible setpieces like riding on a minecart rail that’s actively being chopped to pieces by a buzzsaw, or frantically climbing up a crumbling iceberg on the frozen-over Donkey Kong island.

No level or moment is wasted, and the narrative Tropical Freeze weaves across each world through its excellent environmental worldbuilding is unmatched for a 2D platformer, the best of which is a juice factory that takes you through every step of the process from harvesting grapes to freezing juice into popsicles for the world’s final boss to enjoy.

On top of brilliant presentation, Tropical Freeze is hard as nails in the best way, with difficult challenges that require mastery of DK’s weighty, momentum-based physics and high-skill techniques. Oh, and you get to play as Cranky Kong. Cranky Kong!

Logan Plant (IGN)

32. EarthBound (SNES)

EarthBound is one of the few games that has truly improved with age. Long after the days of weird scratch-and-sniff promos, this is a perfect satire of America and of the RPG genre. It doesn’t just mock blindly, though, it’s also a celebration of the innocence of childhood, and of turn-based combat.

Few games are as charming, delightful, or funny as EarthBound, and its discussions on adulthood and the weirdness of growing up are eternally relevant. And without the late Satoru Iwata jumping in to help his friend Shigesato Itoi program the game, we might never have seen its magic come to light.

Alana Hagues (Nintendo Life)

31. Mega Man 2 (NES)

The original Mega Man didn’t sell particularly well upon launch, so it’s kind of a miracle that Capcom green-lit a sequel in the first place. It’s a good job it did, however, since Mega Man 2 still stands as the greatest entry in the long-running series.

Honed to perfection with buttery-smooth responsiveness and superb power-ups, the levels and bosses remain some of the most memorable of all time, and once you’ve listened to the sublime soundtrack, you’ll feel like you’ve ascended to a higher plane of existence.

Figuring out the most optimal route through the eight Robot Masters remains one of the most satisfying accomplishments in all of gaming. It’s tough, but in memorising the intricate placement of obstacles and enemies, you’ll keep coming back for more.

Ollie Reynolds (Nintendo Life)

30. Pikmin 4 (Switch)

After a decade-long wait for a new game following Pikmin 3, Nintendo delivered the franchise’s best entry yet with Pikmin 4.

It’s hard to confine Pikmin to one genre – it’s got real-time strategy, action adventure, puzzle, worker placement, and even metroidvania elements – but no matter what you call it, you can sum Pikmin up with one word: satisfying.

Whether you’re solving puzzles in caves returning from Pikmin 2, exploring the most complex and gorgeous environments the series has seen, or defending valuable resources in the new tower defense night levels, commanding your army of weird plant aliens has never felt better.

Throw in your adorable dog companion Oatchi and an entire second campaign to tackle after the credits roll, and you’ve got the definitive Pikmin experience that Pikmin 5 will have a hard time topping.

Logan Plant (IGN)

29. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Switch)

Over the years, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door gained a reputation among hardcore Nintendo fans that matched the tales of the legendary door itself, and its extremely passionate fanbase was finally rewarded with an immaculate Switch remake that justified why this GameCube classic is so treasured.

Mario’s quest to gather the Crystal Stars is timeless, with memorable, quirky characters like the smart and sassy Goombella and the mourning sea captain Admiral Bobbery, incredible settings including a wrestling league held on a floating island above the clouds, and sharp, laugh-out-loud writing that beautifully ties it all together. Rogueport stands as one of the most iconic locations in Nintendo history, with a gritty, comedic edge not found in many of the company’s games.

As an RPG, TTYD is no slouch either, with its flexible Badge system and the best take on Mario RPG combat, complete with a live audience that cheers when Mario does well – what a showoff.

Logan Plant (IGN)

28. Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Switch)

Xenoblade Chronicles isn't just a great game. Everything about it, from its graphics and technical achievements to the music, story, combat - it all comes together with such balanced cohesion that it feels almost effortless.

Its identity is not just in its excellent artistic direction, but also in its peculiar history of being localised in British English as opposed to American English, lending a relative uniqueness that only heightens the voice acting. It's not always taking itself too seriously, but when it does, lordy do you feel it.

Monsters a hundred times your size and power loom over you from the very beginning, begging you to come back once you're stronger and able to fell them. All of this, and it was somehow squeezed onto the humble Wii.

Alex Olney (Nintendo Life)

27. Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition (GB)

The video game world would be very different without Pokémon.

Its influence stretches far beyond gaming and the anime, but it all started on the humble Game Boy with the very first 151. Pokémon Red & Blue (and Yellow) take the battling and levelling basics of the RPG genre and expertly pair them up with cute creature collecting.

For kids getting into games, the pure magic of going on an adventure with your animal friends was enough to birth a mega-franchise. While multiple entries have since surpassed the original, there’s something about Gen 1’s purity that still stands strong today.

Alana Hagues (Nintendo Life)

26. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)

The promise of a 'portable Symphony of the Night' was something Konami offered up twice before Aria of Sorrow appeared in 2003; Circle of the Moon (2001) and Harmony of Dissonance (2002) weren't bad games as such, but they fell a long way short of the greatness of the 1997 epic which gave us the term 'Metroidvania'.

However, the third time's a charm, as the saying goes, and Aria of Sorrow really did live up to the hype. While the visuals and sound are obviously a step down from the PlayStation classic, everything else about this pocket-sized adventure simply screams brilliance. It showcases hundreds of enemies to slay, a massive non-linear castle to explore and countless weapons and items to collect – not to mention the unique 'Tactical Soul' system, where powers are inherited from fallen foes.

Now accessible to a whole new generation via the sublime Castlevania Advance Collection on modern systems, this is one of the best entries in Konami's long-running franchise, which surely speaks volumes.

Damien McFerran (Nintendo Life)