Kasparius

It launched an entire genre that makes up half the yearly indie releases, it should have been there year one.

I think they should make another Dig game. I was planning on buying Builder on sale on PS5, the fact that it ran poorly on Switch made me not buy it day one.

@AstroTheGamosian

Yeah, people love dunking on LRG, but to me the positive outweighs the negative

@PKDuckman I assume they will release this one physically too

My dream ports for Switch

Castlevania Symphony of the Night

Castlevania Rondo of Blood

Fallout: New Vegas

DonPachi/DoDonPachi

Mushihimesama Futari

ZeroRanger

Batsugun (a new M2 port)

Windwaker

Gun

A Link Between Worlds

Chrono Trigger (HD2D)

For Switch 2:

A better port of Witcher 3

Dark Souls Trilogy

Bloodborne (you said dream ports)

Ketsui

Battle Garegga

Armed Police Batrider

‪Mine were ‬

‪1. Tears of the Kingdom ‬
‪2. Fire Emblem Engage‬
‪3. Octopath Traveller II‬

@EarthboundBenjy

That’s because it sold poorly and had tons of fan backlash. This is not the case here. BotW sold 15 million more copies than the highest grossing up till then, Ocarina of time and TotK is on track to do the same.

Dream Team is severely underrated.

So, no 3D? That’s a no from me.

@JonathanDunn

What are you sellin’?

Does this person have an Etsy shop and if not how dare you show this to me and leave me with blue balls?!

@dartmonkey

I can see where you’re coming from, but I just think your ranking lists have recently looked very clumsy because of it, your greatest Nintendo games list was packed with dupes and felt unexciting to me as a result. It also felt like those 10 or so dupes could have made room for more niche Nintendo games instead of having Super Mario 3D World, Ocarina, Majora, etc… several times.

I can see you don’t want to hear it though, but both of those lists are packed with comments about how obnoxious that is. I shared the list on a discord community I’m in and without any kind of push on my part, all the comments on there were about not understanding why so many games were on there twice.

You might not agree, but I’m clearly not an outlier with this.

Anyway, I really like Nintendo Life, this certainly won’t stop me from reading and enjoying it, but it’s a bit disappointing.

@dartmonkey

Why not include OG and ports as one entry? They are the exact same games so separating those votes and making them two different spots isn’t just messy, it’s confusing. People might think they are different. They aren’t. You can do something like this “Pikmin 1 (GameCube, Switch eshop)”

Literally no downside.

@dartmonkey

Also as you can see, I’m far from the only person complaining about this. It just looks messy and makes little sense. I love your site, I love ranking lists, but yeah I’ve found this to be a problem with a few of your recent ranking lists.

@dartmonkey

I mean the Switch ports of 1 and 2 for instance are essentially the same as the GC games. What is the sense on ranking them differently?

I really don’t like how you guys separate these by all these different releases for the ranking, it’s just confusing and clumsy. I think it’s worth separating new Wii controls and the OG releases, because they have very different controls, but separating the eshop release of 1 and the GC release makes zero sense. Same with 3 and 3 deluxe, it’s essentially the same game.

Also 4>3>1>2 (they are all very good)

My metric is this:

I’m in the mood for a Metroidvania. I play a game that is supposed to be one, if it scratched that very particular itch, it’s a Metroidvania game. Which is why Cave Story or Dead Cells aren’t you me, because they don’t satisfy the craving I have.

Is Monster Boy influenced by Zelda games? 100%. That doesn’t mean it’s not a Metroidvania. A Game doesn’t have to adhere to every genre rule 100%. It’s at least as much informed by Zelda as it’s informed by Metroid.

Anyway I’ve had my share of arguing about what is and isn’t a MV on r/Metroidvania. I think it’s mostly an exercise in frustration and futility. I could have used this time playing a Metroidvania.

@Rudolf Sounds very dogmatic and pedantic. It’s a Metroidvania and one of the very best.

@chefgon Symphony of the Night added an RPG element fully absent of the Metroid series. Leveling up, random enemy armor and weapon drops not to mention familiars. It’s not fair to say it brought nothing when many modern indie MV games try to emulate it and not Metroid.

@Rudolf

Monster Boy is 100% a Metroidvania.

I think you are missing a couple of crucial great Switch Metroidvanias:

HAAK
Infernax
Haiku, the Robot
Death’s Gambit Afterlife
Salt and Sanctuary
Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight
Trash Quest

Also are Metroid and Castlevania games not included here? I’m confused. Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, Metroid Dread and Castlevania Advance Collection should be here.

@Thomystic

I think those remasters/remakes are great but they aren’t drastically different like say FF7R. I think most people who love the remakes love the original and Vice versa. Definitely should have been one entry for those.

@the_beaver

It’s too soon, give it a couple of years and it will top this kind of list.

I understand why you didn’t, but I would have preferred grouping remakes as one entry (Wind Waker HD/GC), it would have left more room for unsung classics in the top 100.

Good list, but here are some very notable omissions:

HAAK
Infernax
Haiku

@TotalHenshin yes it specifically says 3 is the only one where he goes gooey

Question 3 has an inaccurate statement, Gooigi first appeared in Luigi’s Mansion remake for 3DS. So LM3 is not the only entry where he goes gooey.

Same top 3, but I put DQ V above VIII.

@FleaBag_11 Cheers!

Link Between Worlds should be in the top 5, but solid list.

He could have cross referenced online, Im
Sure a vast majority was already there…

Right now it’s a 10, I’m 40 hours in. I bounced off about 15 hours into the first game.

The Zelda 30th Anniversary one, glorious.

Skyrim over Dark Souls is the wrong choice. Skyrim is certainly influential, but I think no other game has reshaped the industry in the past 12 years like Dark Souls has. Furthermore it’s a far better game and has aged much better than Skyrim.

(Great idea and list by the way!)

You can’t beat Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade 2 and that’s without mentioning the best version of MK8

@FishyS

I’m a Metroidvania obsessive and I think Hollow Knight is part of the holy trinity with Castlevania and Metroid, and it’s the greatest Metroidvania ever made. Even with those insane heights Silksong needs to reach, I fully expect it to be at least in my top 5 in the genre when all is said and done. I would be shocked if it isn’t, given how incredibly talented and meticulous Team Cherry is.

Wicked Child from Castlevania (NES), they throw it on a random level in the game. It doesn’t open the game, it’s not playing leading up to the fight with Dracula, it’s just thrown there in a random level and yet it is the single greatest piece of music composed for a series that is known for great music.

And if you think I’m exaggerating, then please do yourself a favor and watch this orchestral rendition:

https://youtu.be/KeWVucK3tas

And the craziest part is that it was Kinuyo Yamashita’s debut score. Unreal.

@Hero-of-WiiU I use a auto-turbo controller and do the push ups everytime for easy rewards.

I want a more powerful Switch with Streetpass, Miiverse and better controllers.

@Tyranexx

I managed to hit the old guy 999 times in Wind Waker, I forget the trick, but it became trivial once I figured it out

@JonathanDunn

Have you finished Balan Wonderworld yet?

‪Returnal, I’ve never been truly frustrated with a Souls game or Hollow Knight, because I never lost progress and always got a bit better after each attempt. Returnal felt profoundly unbalanced, I had 2 hour runs and lost all progress and was just as bad at the game as before. ‬

I have a physical copy of Dead or School somewhere, I should check it out.

Easily the Western Tom DuBois cover, anytime he’s involved it’s going to be a banger. (Sunset Riders, CV III, Super CV IV, Turtles in Time)

Oh you also didn’t mention the New 3DS faceplates, there are a couple Zelda themed ones.

@TheBoilerman

Yes, me too, but given I already have 3 Zelda 3DS’ it felt too much at the time.

You forgot one, kinda, there was an exclusive engraving service at Nintendo NYC (then Nintendo World Store) and it was very cool:

https://www.engadget.com/2007-12-21-the-legend-of-the-engraved-ds.html

Shantae & the Pirate’s Curse is not only a better game than Half-Genie by a wide margin, it’s also a better Metroidvania. Although they both are level based with backtracking, Pirate’s Curse is far more exploratory than HGH.

@TME same here!

@NintendoFan4Lyf

The skeleton looks like Ganondorf from Ocarina/Twilight, not demise.