niner

Games missing from the list which deserve a crack at the top 50. Sorry the list is list. Not my fault

Adventures of Batman and Robin
Aladdin
Alien 3
Ardy Lightfoot
Battleclash
Biometal
Blackthorne
Brainlord
Bust-A-Move
Cacoma Knight in Bizyland
Captain Commando
Congo's Caper
Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf
Doom
Dragon View: Drakkhen 2
Earthworm Jim
Earthworm Jim 2
EVO
Fighter's History
Final Fight Guy
Firepower 2000
Incantation
Joe & Mac
Joe & Mac 2
Jungle Strike
King Arthur's World
King of Dragons
King of the Monsters
King of the Monsters 2
Knights of the Round
Lost Vikings 2
Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse
Marvel Super Heroes in War of the Gems
Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow
Metal Combat
Metal Warriors
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Fighting Edition
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat 2
Mortal Kombat 3
Ninja Warriors
Nosferatu
On the Ball
Phalanx
Phantom 2040
Pocky and Rocky
Pocky and Rocky 2
Prince of Persia 2
Robotrek
Run Saber
Samurai Showdown
Saturday Night Slam Masters
Skyblazer
Sonic Blast Man
Sonic Blast Man 2
Space MegaForce
Sparkster
Super Bomberman 2
Super Off Road
Super Smash TV
Tetris/Dr. Mario
Thunder Spirits
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose
Tiny Toon Adventures: Wacky Sports Challenge
Top Gear
Top Gear 2
Top Gear 3000
Uncharted Waters
Urban Strike
Wario's Woods
WarpSpeed
WeaponLord
Wing Commander
Wing Commander 2: The Secret Missions
X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse

If these games aren't added then I'm calling for a revote lol

Umm, there are more games missing from this list than there are on it. Granted the absence of sports games and licensed crap is fine, but a lot of really good and/or underrated games are missing, such as:
Earthworm Jim 1 & 2
Incantation
Joe & Mac 1 & 2
Metal Warriors
Run Saber
Skyblazer
Sparkster

I could go on but you get the idea.

@CurryPowderKeg79 @sdelfin Thank you both. I thought it looked too lovely to be a Genesis game. I thought TG16 was a possibility.

What platform was this game originally intended for? Genesis or TG-16?

When the cover is better than the game

If you think reviewing a bad game is hard, try QA testing one for a living

I stopped watching at 0:30. "Simple and precise touch controls"

The best port on the Switch, by far, is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

This poll should be named "How old are you?"

"Worst" is a subjective term, so I looked at the list of all products Nintendo has released to make some objective comparisons.

In terms of volume, 1989 is the single worst showing the Big N has ever had. That year they developed and released only 7 games, and 5 of those were the first batch of Game Boy titles. For the NES they only made two - Tetris, and a Power Pad game called Short Order/Eggsplode! The exclamation point is theirs, not mine. Nintendo HEAVILY leaned on 3rd parties back in those days, kids.

1995 was also a lean year, with only 5 console games, plus the release of the worst mass-produced console of all time. This was the tail end of the SNES era so dev resources were being poured into the Ultra 64 at that point. The only big name releases were Earthbound (which was a massive commercial failure), and two all-time greats in Yoshi's Island, and DKC 2. So, not a bad year tbh. Except for that Virtual Boy thing.

1997 was another lean year. New N64 owners snapped up Star Fox 64 and the genre-defining GoldenEye 007 but otherwise it was all quiet on the Nintendo front. This was the sad year sandwiched between Mario 64 in 96 and Ocarina of Time in 98. By the end of the year Sony had resoundingly won the 32/64-bit era.

2006 was another transition year for Nintendo console owners, as the GameCube was completely abandoned. Cult classic Odama and Baten Kaitos Origins were two 2nd party games released that year and Zelda: Twilight Princess was concurrently released on both the GCN and Wii. That Wii launch was insane, and brought Nintendo bad into the public limelight, so while 2006 started out horrible, I suppose it redeemed itself in the end.

What 2016 didn't lack for sheer volume (25 games) but the quality was poor by Nintendo's standards. A series of polarizing titles like Pokken Tournament, Star Fox Zero, Paper Mario: Color Splash, and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE were released for the long-dead Wii U and even the stalwart 3DS had a whole bunch of non-classics launched, including Kirby: Planet Robobot, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. The Switch was just around the corner, but 2016 was a sad time for Nintendo fans.

So, how does 2020 stack up? Well, we've only received 10 games so far, including 4 download-only titles and 3 ports (TMS #FE, Pokemon MD:RT DX, Xenoblade). Clubhouse Games is a niche title at a discount price so that leaves us with exactly two full-price, new titles in 2020 - Animal Crossing, and Paper Mario. That's...not much, even if you love both games. If nothing big launches in the 2nd half of this year this is stacking up to be one of the worst on record.

My brain says 1997 was the worst, since that year cemented Nintendo's third-place market share for the next decade. Even so, I voted for 1995 because the VB was hot garbage, y'all.

I LOVE this game but am very disappointed in this update. Making crossbows take both weapon spots was...weird, and I can't figure out how to use the "backup" weapon slot. Also the shops are almost useless now. It used to be easy to select a category of weapon you prefer which made it simple to "upgrade" what you were currently using. Now it's nearly impossible. I also don't feel any improvement in the difficult balances that they made. It's still too difficult on 2+ cells.

There's such thing as a Microsoft Store? tehe

@Mii_duck Ditto

Looks more like a cinematic platformer (ala Prince of Persia, Another World, et al) than a Metroidvania. I enjoy both genres so I'll keep an eye on this one. I like the aesthetics and the game speed.

I can't choose. I dislike them all equally. Bring back Advance Wars!

Great list and fun read. I own most of these titles so I guess I'm in that "specific audience." Well done Gavin

I barely understood anything that the author said. I get that it's a shmup, but have no idea how it plays

I was a gaming journalist in the 90s so I had over 100 games. 124 to be exact. The SNES is still my favorite game system.

I recognize Aragami and...nothing else. Based on other responses I'm not the only one who is unfamiliar with these games. It's so hard to keep up with game releases these days!

I'm glad it turned out well. The wife is a huge fan of Luigi's Mansion.

By my count there are only four new, original games in this list. The vast majority are ports and remasters.

PORT 18
Overwatch
Tokyo Mirage
Super NES Online
DQ XI
Witcher 3
Return of Obra Dinn
Deadly Premonition Origins
Deadly Premonition 2
Divinity II
Assassin's Creed
SW Jedi Outcast II
Dauntless
Ni No Kuni
Grid Autosport
Farming Simulator
Call if Cthulhu
Vampyr
Devil May Cry 2

REMASTER 4
Xenoblade
Zelda
Trials of Mana
Doom 64

SEQUEL 8
Pokemon Sword Shield
Luigi's Mansion 3
Animal Crossing
Mario & Sonic
Kirby Clash
Tetris 99
Just Dance 2020
NBA 2K 20

ORIGINAL 4
Daemon X Machina
The Outer Worlds
Little Town Heroes
Rogue Company

FYI for anyone looking for Super Mario Strikers it's called Mario Smash Football on this list.

Darn it. I guess this gives me time to finish Zelda before playing this one.

Aside from the obvious first-party and "best of" games for the system, I hope Nintendo will include games that are prohibitively expensive because they are rare and games that never left Japan or Europe, such as:

Terranigma
King of Demons
Final Fantasy V
Iron Commandos
Goemon 2-4
Parodius
Mega Man & Forte
Rendering Ranger R2
Gunman's Proof
The Firemen

I also wish they would enhance multi-player games to support online co-op. I'm thinking of games like:
Super Bomberman 1-5
Super Smash TV
TMNT IV (sigh - licensing)
Super Mario Kart
Contra 3 (yeah, not gonna happen)
Super Tennis
Lost Vikings
Tetris Attack
Metal Warriors
Legend of the Mystical Ninja
Goof Troop
Sunset Riders
Tecmo Super Bowl 3 (sigh)
Run Saber
Zombies ate my Neighbors

Let's see...
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition
Luigi’s Mansion 3
Shovel Knight: King of Cards
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
and...hmm...I guess that's it.
Oh wait, I'm excited for Ninja Saviors as well!

Meh. Nothing for me this month.

Does anyone have actual links?

Day one: Blazing Chrome
When it goes on sale: Soul Seraph
Nope: everything else

Very cool. This is one of my favorite Switch titles but after playing through it a dozen or so times it had definitely grown stale. I'm excited for the new content.

$135? Ha, who would pay that for a repro... wait, they're sold out. Wow

I booted this up today to check out the changes...and I beat it for the first time. This was the 30th playthrough and only the second time I've fought the King but I beat him easily. Methinks they lowered the difficulty considerably by adding a lot more scrolls. In any case I love this game and I enjoyed the changes.

I would've chosen hidden option number 5 "I bought one of these and was horrified by its poor quality such that I would never buy another"

Can't wait! I've been watching this one for a while

Hooray! I love this sort of story.

Not a fan of this list. Someone already mentioned recency bias and boy is that ever true of the Switch. Heck, that's true for the Wii U as well. It's inexcusable to put the NES and Wii so far down the list.

The quintessetial solution without a problem.

Hmm. I'm surprised that it was such a haphazard decision by the artists. I had always thought that the choice of that sky blue color was to keep Link inline with the game's visual language of color whereby orange means "incomplete" and blue means "done." Link gets the tunic after baking for 100 years and then remebering (or being told) his responsibility so he becomes, in effect, done and ready to go fight Calamity.

Solid review. I had no idea this was coming but it sounds intriguing. It reminds me of the original Tron tank scene.

Sounds like Nintendo is trying to win over the PC gamer. See what I did there?

@NintendoFan4Lyf Totally agree. I've bought this game on Wii U after thoroughly playing the original version on Steam. I love it but I can't justify triple-dipping. I'm psyched for the sequel, however. I didn't buy it when it came out on Steam in hopes that Drinkbox would bring it to Switch eventually. So glad to hear that it's on its way!

@FoxyGlen Great article, especially as counterprogramming to yesterday's article. I'm in the disappointed camp myself but you make a lot of excellent points. For me the whole thing is just...meh. Cloud saves should've been standard fare since the Wii U days so paying for them doesn't excite me. I'm not a big online gamer either so I can't play Rocket League anymore but that's it. Back to Steam for that one I suppose. And as many others have suggested, the NES Online games is a very weak offering when compared to Sony and Microsoft. Again, meh.

I'm surprised the reviewer didn't mention how unbelievably obnoxious the Navi, I mean, Fidget character is. As silly as it sounds he/she/it was the key reason I stopped playing the game.

I love me some pixel art platformers but this one just looks, slow. I prefer the satistfying, fast paced movement in Super Meat Boy, Celeste, The Messenger, et al

@NewAdvent Naw I'm a longtime visitor I guess I just have a thick skin. Overall I enjoy the site and the lively discussions. It's all good!

@NewAdvent Thanks for the tip on the Ignore button. I had no idea that existed. Not too many trolls on here but there are a few I wouldn't mind auto-scrolling past. Cheers

@thesubcon3 Positively criminal. Your Complete SNES is essential. My early 90's book "The Good, The Bad, and the Bogus" wasn't included either. Shame

I'm with you @sketchturner, I've been playing games since Atari 2600 and I don't ever remember hearing of Team 17.

Aside from an HD remake of Skyward Sword I don't want any Switch ports of Wii titles. Oh and the SS remake needs the waggle controls removed. So no, I don't miss waggle controls.

So, this bad boy (pun intended) sports a bad screen, poor emulation such as audio distortion and screen tearing, mooshy d-pad and buttons, and finally the Chinese-knock off aesthetics that others have mentioned. No thanks.

First off, I dislike the execu-speak. They are "games" Nintendo, not "content".
Is there a wide variety of titles? Sure, but as others have pointed out a lot of the titles are low quality indies and/or ports which I personally have played on other systems.
As usual, this Nintendo system has a content/game problem.