Video games are synonymous with the name Nintendo. But which of the hundreds of incredible games that have graced the legendary Japanese company’s numerous home and handheld consoles are the best? Well, here at IGN, we’ve teamed up with our friends at Nintendo Life to try and answer that question. What follows is the 100 best Nintendo games of all time, based on a combination of each site’s expert opinions.
As for what qualifies to make our list? Well, the vast majority you’ll see here were either developed and/or published by Nintendo itself. But there’s also room for some others, those games that are synonymous with Nintendo consoles or at least a period of timed exclusivity on one of its many home devices and handhelds. For example, GTA Chinatown Wars sits at 99 despite being developed by Rockstar and arriving later on the PSP, because it had a whole nine months of being on the Nintendo DS first and was designed with the DS’ stylus and second screen in mind.
From iconic Nintendo in-house series such as Super Mario, Metroid, and The Legend of Zelda, to third-party heroes who have made their home on everything from the NES to Switch 2, narrowing down the field was no easy task. These aren’t necessarily the best games to play right now, but a ranking based on a combination of historic innovation, modern ingenuity, and the legacy each has left behind.
The 100 Best Nintendo Games of All Time
Have an opinion on what should be placed where? You can contribute to our public ranking by voting in this faceoff or let us know in the comments below. Over the course of this week, we’ll be steadily revealing our picks, with 20 being revealed each day until the full ranking is complete on Friday, November 14. So, without further ado, here are the top 100 Nintendo games of all time:
100. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
More than 20 years on, there’s still nothing quite like Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (which, yes, is probably due in part to Nintendo’s now-expired sanity system patent). Not only did it have the temerity to jump between wildly distinct time periods, but it also went to great lengths to mess with your mind should you get spotted by enemies too much. Whether it’s an unsettling noise, a slightly skewed camera angle, or the game straight up simulating a ‘blue screen of death’, it made for one of the most memorable experiences in the horror genre. The Lovecraftian aesthetic still sings to this very day, and a certain bathtub scene is just as sure to give you the willies now as it did back in 2002. A remarkable game that deserves a second chance in the spotlight.
Ollie Reynolds – Nintendo Life
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99. GTA: Chinatown Wars
A GTA game releasing exclusively (until its later PSP arrival) for a Nintendo handheld seems like an incongruous proposal. But, in 2009, Rockstar gave the DS Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, a standalone story of Triads and tribulations in GTA 4’s modern Liberty City setting. This top-down ode to the series’ roots miraculously converted the open-world cinema we’d come to expect, adapting to its handheld confines through smart touchpad mechanics and a stylised, cell-shaded comic-book-like aesthetic to stunning effect. What could so easily have been a misguided experiment between Rockstar and Nintendo instead became one of the DS’s most essential games.
Simon Cardy – IGN
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98. Star Fox
From the days when the word “polygon” was exclusively found in math textbooks comes Nintendo’s 3D evolution of a mainstay arcade genre: the SHMUP. Taxing the SNES hardware so much, even the Super FX chip included inside the cartridge couldn’t get the action to run even at a targeted 12 frames per second, Star Fox followed the linear stage setups of R-Type and co., but played from a behind-the-ship and first-person perspective. The “talking” animals are here to remind you that you’re playing a Nintendo game, but in the end, Star Fox is a highly technical and experimental harbinger of the future. Far from being just a tech demo, it’s also a really fun game, however, thanks to challenging players to play again and again to perfect their runs and experiment to discover alternate paths.
Peer Schneider – IGN
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97. Super Castlevania IV
While it’s effectively a re-thread of the original Castlevania, this fourth mainline instalment in the series really does elevate things to an entirely different level of quality. Sure, Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse might be the better game overall, but Super Castlevania IV reimagines Transylvania through a 16-bit lens; the visuals are stunning, with Mode 7 effects adding a new dimension to proceedings, while the music is so good you’d swear it was being streamed from a CD. Subsequent entries would arguably take the franchise to the next level of brilliance, but one thing is clear: Super Castlevania IV remains a masterpiece.
Damien McFerran – Nintendo Life
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96. 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
The Nintendo DS became a haven for visual novel fans; an interactive storybook device that could ease you into a deep night’s sleep. 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors was far more likely to keep you up all night, however, with its twisted game of life and death. Chunsoft’s first entry into the Zero Escape series, 999 placed you alongside eight other potential victims inside a sinking cruise liner that tested your puzzle and deduction skills as you unraveled the web woven by a mysterious mastermind. It’s twisted, clever, and a great example of handheld experimentation that he console would become known for.
Simon Cardy – IGN
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95. Fire Emblem Three Houses
Three Houses is a Fire Emblem game that got it all so right; it’s been hard to readjust to the series in its aftermath. You see, Three Houses gives us the turn-based strategy we’re all fiending for, yes, and it does so with style to spare. However, the real draw here, and the thing that makes this one so worthy of note overall, is the focus and effort that’s been placed on the socialising, customisation, relationships, and all that good stuff that happens between scraps. It’s a game you could quite happily live in for a bit.
PJ O’Reilly – Nintendo Life
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94. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
What does Professor Layton hide under that huge hat? Perhaps, a towering cylindrical head of a shape unlike any other in human history. He’d certainly need one to house a brain big enough to solve all of the puzzles thrown his way over the course of his many DS and 3DS adventures. A consistent quality of cosiness mixed with Sherlock Holmes-esque yarns can be found across the Layton series, but we’ve gone with The Unwound Future as our pick of the bunch. Its time-traveling tale, full of memorable twists and turns, thrills just as much as solving one of its dozens of conundrums does, satisfying brains of all shapes and sizes to great effect.
Simon Cardy – IGN
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93. WWF No Mercy
25 years later, WWF No Mercy, the THQ-published wrestling game released on the Nintendo 64, is not only still considered to be the pinnacle of the N64 wrestling game boom, but it’s also widely thought of as the greatest wrestling game of all time. Since its release, it’s been the benchmark for what any wrestling game, with or without the WWE license, has aspired to be. It’s developed a cult-like following, with fans still playing (and modding) No Mercy to this day, updating its 25-year-old roster with modern superstars when the latest 2K game doesn’t live up to its standards. It’s not often a game still stands strong after a quarter of a century, and it’s even rarer when it’s a sports game. All of this makes WWF No Mercy not only the greatest-ever wrestling game, but perhaps Nintendo’s greatest-ever sports game that doesn’t include Mario.
Dale Driver – IGN
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92. Kirby: Planet Robobot
Kirby: Planet Robobot, a truly astonishing little game for the Nintendo 3DS that encapsulates all that is best and beloved about the pink puffball. Robobot has everything: a deep roster of unique and useful copy abilities, colorful and creative levels, an interesting one-off gimmick in the robot armor, silly minigames, and a plot that starts with Kirby taking a nap and ends in a giant galactic battle against a superintelligent, planet-sized being.
In addition to all this, Kirby: Planet Robobot is one of the very few games to really make effective use of the Nintendo 3DS’s 3D capabilities. While the game itself takes place on a 2D plane, it features a number of levels that have depth as well as length, and look absolutely fantastic with the 3D turned on, as cars drive directly at the player and giant ice cream cones tip over and spill on the camera. While Kirby has since gained other new copy abilities, minigames, and even his first 3D adventure in the years since, most of them struggle to hold a candle in our hearts to Planet Robobot’s breadth, depth, and pure charm.
Rebekah Valentine – IGN
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91. Diddy Kong Racing
Apart from Nintendo itself, Rare was the N64’s most important developer, and one place the UK-based studio actually outpaced Nintendo was in the kart racer category. Mario Kart 64 is an undeniable classic, but Diddy Kong Racing just inches ahead as our pick for the best kart racer on the 64. In addition to chaotic split-screen kart racing, Diddy Kong Racing drove the genre forward with three vehicle types (your friend could be in a plane flying alternate routes during the same race you were in a car!), an adventure mode complete with boss battles, and an amazing soundtrack from Donkey Kong Country composer David Wise. Plus, it was the first appearance of Banjo and Conker ahead of their solo platformer outings – and it’s the forgotten, cute, family-friendly version of Conker well before he started drinking, smoking, and swearing.
Logan Plant – IGN
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90. The World Ends With You
Though it’s been ported and remade several times, none of the more recent versions of The World Ends With You has managed to capture how excellent this game was back when it first released on Nintendo DS. We could go on all day about what makes it great: the art style, the deep fashion mechanics, its accurate portrayal of Shibuya and Japanese youth culture, its unusual story with multiple wild twists, its incredible cast of characters, the MUSIC.
But maybe the best element of TWEWY that we’ve lost in subsequent editions is its battle system, which made unique and brilliant use of both the system’s dual screen and its touch controls simultaneously with its D-pad to effectively simulate two different characters synchronizing their attacks with one another in two different realms. Combined with a wide variety of “pins” that could be activated with different types of touch attacks, there was endless room for creativity and growth through multiple playthroughs. Which you definitely wanted to do, if only to hear Calling and Three Seconds Clapping one more time.
Rebekah Valentine – IGN
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89. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
After years of being relegated to supporting roles, our little mushroom-headed friend Toad finally got his own game in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. Nintendo, over the years, has done a brilliant job of designing games fit and tuned perfectly to the personalities of each of its mascots, and Captain Toad is no exception. The cute, diorama-like levels proved to be magnificent puzzles for our intrepid explorer to navigate one by one, presenting a slower and cozier pace from other Nintendo challenges, yet still being perfectly, whimsically Nintendo. It’s a shame we never got another one of these.
Rebekah Valentine – IGN
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88. Golden Sun: The Lost Age
We could’ve gone with either Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age as our entry on this list, but we’ve settled for the second part of Camelot’s two-act RPG adventure, as it is ultimately the better half. Golden Sun was already an absolute feat, with its creative Psynergy and Djinn systems, gorgeous environments and music, and surprisingly robust open world. In the sequel they quadrupled the size of that world, added even more Psynergy and Djinn and classes, came up with more banger songs and environments, and opened the second act with a wild party switching twist that would go on to be subverted further in a triumphant march to the final battle. Golden Sun and The Lost Age are nuts in the best way, The Lost Age even more so, and are among the best GBA games of all time.
Rebekah Valentine – IGN
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87. Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
Mario has tried his hand at a lot of different sports over the years, but few have had the staying power of golf. Originally driving off on the NES, before approaching the 3D world of the N64, it’s Toadstool Tour on the GameCube where the plumber really nailed the action on the green. Its sizeable roster of characters and compelling courses offered a great round of multiplayer fun for those looking for a more laid-back time away from the hectic rush of Smash Bros. and Mario Kart, and the furious consequences of Mario Party.
Simon Cardy – IGN
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86. Super Monkey Ball 2
Super Monkey Ball’s brilliance lies in the fact that you’re tilting the stage to roll your monkey around rather than directly moving the character itself, and its table maze concept has never been more finely tuned than in Super Monkey Ball 2. The 2002 GameCube sequel is stuffed with 140 stages to clear – ranging from fun and simple courses perfect for laughing at the silly monkeys on family game night to downright brutal challenges that’ll make you go bananas as you lose hundreds of lives trying to clear them. Mastering everything it has to offer is extraordinarily satisfying, and its physics, momentum, and controls are so pinpoint that a study found that surgeons who warm up by playing Super Monkey Ball 2 are more efficient and precise in simulated surgeries compared to the surgeons who didn’t play. Video games really can save lives!
Logan Plant – IGN
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85. Viewtiful Joe
Viewtiful Joe practically attacks your eyeballs with its standout art direction and frantically fun combat. It’s unfiltered Hideki Kamiya at an exciting career crossroads, melding his Devil May Cry action with a colourful paintbrush palette that would later evolve into the likes of Okami and The Wonderful 101. A wholly original side-scroller that threatens to burst out of its purple cube confines if your fingers don’t keep up with its cell-shaded antics, it’s an exciting combo of 2D and 3D platform action that felt fresh in 2003, with an intoxicating style that few have come close to matching since. It spawned sequels, but none truly reached the heights of the original, which has stood the test of time as one of the GameCube’s very best.
Simon Cardy – IGN
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84. F-Zero GX
F-Zero is about cheating death to go faster, and F-Zero GX’s uncompromising difficulty and incredibly high skill ceiling represent a peak of the futuristic racing genre. Like F-Zero X before it, GX forces you to sacrifice your machine’s health bar to get a boost, resulting in tense risk-reward scenarios that get your blood pumping every time. And if you fall off the track while trying to shave off an extra split second, Lakitu won’t swoop in to save you – you’re dead. You must master GX’s tight mechanics and memorize its radical track designs to even stand half a chance against its toughest CPUs, and you hit a high most video games can’t reach when you finally cross the finish line in first place. The cold-blooded challenge only works because GX runs perfectly at 60 fps and looks fantastic with strong art direction that rivals the GameCube’s best, like Metroid Prime and Rogue Leader. F-Zero GX is a masterpiece, and probably the most hardcore Nintendo game since the NES.
Logan Plant – IGN
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83. Ring Fit Adventure
Ring Fit Adventure is one of the best-selling Nintendo Switch games, thanks largely to a global pandemic making indoor exercise briefly appealing. Unfortunately, like many other exercise programs, most people who started Ring Fit fell off the game before they could discover how much more than just an exercise game it really is. Ring Fit Adventure is genuinely one of the most unique RPGs of the generation. It has a colorful cast of characters, bolstered by surprisingly good writing, a battle system revolving around your own physical movement, complete with skill trees, elemental weaknesses, and even healing items you can craft through more exercise. Plus, its soundtrack is straight work-out bangers, too.
Rebekah Valentine – IGN
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82. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Nearly every moment of Phoenix Wright’s original courtroom adventure is iconic. From Phoenix’s debut trial against Mr. Sahwit (Or should I say… Mr. Did It!) to cross-examining a literal parrot, the first Ace Attorney fully commits to its completely unhinged world and never looks back. Exposing witnesses’ lies and uncovering the truth of each case is exhilarating, largely because of its excellent soundtrack and lively character animations, and the way Ace Attorney balances its unabashed silliness with genuinely serious, heartfelt moments is nothing short of masterful. It’s also an essential game in its genre, as Ace Attorney’s surprisingly successful sales paved the way for more visual novel and puzzle games to find a footing in the West.
Logan Plant – IGN
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81. Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse
Considered by many to be the apex of the ‘classic’ Castlevania entries, Dracula’s Curse remains a wonderful example of a talented group of developers pushing aging hardware to its maximum potential. By the time it arrived in 1989, the 16-bit era was already in full swing and the NES was looking very old-fashioned. However, despite the humble nature of the host hardware, Konami created a stunning action platformer, boasting multiple playable characters and optional routes through Dracula’s castle. Indeed, many consider this to be superior to the first 16-bit entry in the series, Super Castlevania IV, which arrived just a short time later in 1991.
Damien McFerran – Nintendo Life
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80. Mother 3
Is there a non-localised game that has garnered more attention than Mother 3? EarthBound’s follow-up could have been more of the same — more satire, more charm — and it is both of those things. But Mother 3’s story of family, capitalism, and corruption will deeply touch anyone who plays it. It’s also a smart evolution of EarthBound’s turn-based combat, using rhythm mechanics to let you flex your skills. Its tearjerking moments may transcend the games, but there’s so much more richness within Mother 3 that it deserves to be played by all. If only it were easier to access…
Alana Hagues – Nintendo Life
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79. Elite Beat Agents
A Western counterpart to the Japanese Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, Elite Beat Agents got toes tapping as much as fingers thanks to its snackable episodic rhythm hilarity. A star-studded list of tracks, including Earth, Wind & Fire’s September and David Bowie’s Let’s Dance provides the backdrop for the titular government agents to go out into the world and help those in need. Doing so tests your reflexes and challenges even the most hardy of rhythm-action veterans, as you try and keep up with the “tap and drag” mechanics while also fighting against the urge to laugh all the while. Although it never sold enough to become a mainstream hit, it has cemented itself as a cult classic and a vital DS game that encapsulates the handheld’s willingness to experiment and just get weird with it.
Simon Cardy – IGN
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78. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest
There’s no platformer series with better vibes than the Donkey Kong Country games. Rare used technology that transforms pre-rendered 3D objects into 2D sprites, giving the SNES trilogy a wholly unique look that’s still beautiful on CRT televisions, and most agree that Diddy’s Kong Quest (Get it? Conquest?) is the top banana of Rare’s Donkey Kong games. With darker themes as Diddy and Dixie Kong explore King K. Rool’s vile Crocodile Isle, creative locations like a dilapidated theme park or the inside of a beehive, and tons of meaningful secrets and collectibles to uncover, DKC 2 is an outstanding adventure that’s perfectly paced from start to finish. What cements it as an all-timer, though, is its soundtrack, which is easily among the best on SNES. Stickerbush Symphony, anyone?
Logan Plant – IGN
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77. Super Mario Sunshine
Vibes are precisely the reason to love Super Mario Sunshine. Look, it hasn’t aged well in some places. It’s got some goofy movement, and some of the levels make you want to rip your hair out (Pachinko, Sand Bird). But the goofiness of Mario being sent to a tropical island and being forced to clean up gunk to avoid going to jail is unmatched. And it makes for some pretty interesting level design, which Nintendo manages to concoct in Sunshine around a variety of conceits that all fit the tropical vacation theme while each feeling distinct. We love the silly Piantas, shooting ourselves high into the air with FLUDD, and skidding through Delfino Plaza on our stomachs like we’re on a slip ‘n’ slide, and collecting every last one of those pesky blue coins. They’ve never made another game quite like Super Mario Sunshine. We’re not sure they ever will, but its pure ambitious strangeness has earned it a spot among the Nintendo greats.
Rebekah Valentine – IGN
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76. Secret of Mana
Released in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 2, Secret of Mana is one of those rare JRPGs that completely changed people’s perception of what the genre could deliver. Even by modern standards, its gorgeous visuals and bewitching Hiroki Kikuta soundtrack have lost none of their impact, while the nuanced storyline and captivating characters grab your attention and refuse to let go. Released at a time when it was rare for a game of this type to be blessed with a global release, Secret of Mana is rightly compared to other SNES role-playing classics. The 2018 remake was welcome, but didn’t quite match up to the original, which tells you everything you need to know about how highly this game is regarded by fans.
Damien McFerran – Nintendo Life
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75. Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber
A hybrid of turn-based and real-time strategy and RPG gameplay, Quest’s Ogre Battle 64 is very much a prettier and better version of the first game that attempted this volatile mix, The March of the Black Queen for SNES. Mixing 3D maps with DKC-style pre-rendered sprites, Ogre Battle 64 was so jam-packed with content, Nintendo stepped in as co-publisher and sprang for a 40MB cartridge – the second-biggest ever released for N64. The game’s sophisticated systems reveal themselves layer by layer as players figure out how to capitalize on character alignments, balance good and evil actions to maintain their hidden “chaos frame” stat, and evolve characters and classes to become more powerful. While the “Ogre” brand survives in the isometric turn-based “Tactics” offshoot, Ogre Battle 64 remains a true forgotten gem worth playing.
Peer Schneider – IGN
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74. Wave Race 64
Few games dare to tread where Wave Race 64 went: to try and simulate races on a track that constantly changes. Wave Race occupies a rarely visited genre of racing game – Beetle Adventure Racing or Split/Second come to mind – where the elements and the circuit itself are more formidable opponents than the opposing drivers, human or AI. Other racers challenge you to learn proper cornering – in Wave Race, even going straight is a skill to be learned as the undulating waves try to toss you off your path. Weather hazards, changing tides, and varying wave conditions unlock shortcuts and constantly challenge racers to weave and dive to maximum success. That control learning curve is steep. Wave Race 64 is a hard game to get into – but learn its language and it’s still one of the most technical and rewarding racers around.
Peer Schneider – IGN
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73. Sin & Punishment Star Successor
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor is the sort of game we just don’t see enough of these days. A fast-paced, on-rails shoot ’em up with no intentions of taking it easy on you, dear player. This 2009 epic — a sequel to Treasure’s Japan-only N64 original — serves up high-octane, incredibly good-looking action against some fantastically deranged and tricksy enemy types. Think Space Harrier, in how your character appears hovering on-screen, and then add some amazing level design, top-notch baddies, and excellent use of the Wii’s motion controls for targeting. For high-score chasers and lovers of stiff challenges, this one is hard to beat.
PJ O’Reilly – Nintendo Life
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72. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
A GameCube exclusive, Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader was the envy of any owner of PS2 or Xbox in 2001. Virtually an improvement in every way when compared to the N64’s original Rogue Squadron, this slice of rebel alliance fantasy was a feast for both the eyes and ears, even holding up remarkably well today. Its arcade-like approach to dogfighting was a thrill to pilot, whether launching daring Y-Wing bomber runs or reenacting A New Hope’s iconic Death Star assault, Rogue Leader remains the gold standard when it comes to Star Wars space battles (unless you lean more toward the dark side with 1994’s TIE Fighter, that is).
Simon Cardy – IGN
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71. Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
Xenoblade Chronicles X got a highly deserved re-release on Switch, and we can only hope that gamers who skipped it or missed it the first time around give it another go, as it’s quite possibly the best the series has to offer, certainly with regards to hot mech-on-mech action. What starts out, and continues for the first half of the game as ‘just’ another excellent Xenoblade adventure, takes flight — quite literally — once you fully unlock the ability to zoom around and battle in a big fancy robot. Beating most dedicated mech games at what they do best, XCX is every bit the all-timer.
PJ O’Reilly – Nintendo Life
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70. Live A Live
It’s remarkable how many amazing JRPGs didn’t make it to the West during the lifetime of the SNES / Super Famicom – and Live A Live is perhaps one of the most notable examples. A time-travelling epic which spans multiple scenarios and boasts a varied cast of protagonists, Square’s 1994 classic is unlike any other game in this genre; it’s a shame, then, that it was considered a commercial flop at the time of its original release. Thankfully, the 2022 remake not only spruces up the presentation but also gives Live A Live a global release for the first time, allowing a much wider audience to experience its amazing qualities.
Damien McFerran – Nintendo Life
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69. Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!
Adapting 1984’s Punch Out!!! and Super Punch Out!!! arcade games to consoles, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!! saw the boxer lend his likeness to a game that, if you’re of a certain vintage, you can only have sweet memories of. Yes, it may not look all that to modern eyes, but it’s still got it where it counts, with a simple, tight control scheme that puts bobbing, weaving, blocking, ducking, and punching at your fingertips. Are you ready to take on a roster that includes Glass Joe, Piston Honda, and Mike Tyson himself? Terrifying final boss material.
PJ O’Reilly – Nintendo Life
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68. Wario Land 4
If, in the early ‘90s, you had been asked to imagine a Mario spin-off platformer, it’s unlikely that you’d land on anything quite like the Wario Land series. The boisterous movement, grotesque power-ups, and vocal sample-filled soundtrack couldn’t be further from the pleasantries of the Mushroom Kingdom, and nowhere is this funky format better presented than in Wario Land 4.
It’s tough and it’s weird, but good lord, does it feel good. The bopping soundtrack and uber-detailed visuals make each level a delight to explore, but it’s in the areas’ explosive second phases where the game really sings. It requires a particularly slick moveset to make escaping a crumbling ancient tomb feel satisfying, and Wario brings it. Nintendo has been behind some of the most prolific platformers we’ve ever seen, but few stand apart for their rulebook-throwing quirkiness as much as Wario’s pyramid-raiding adventure.
Jim Norman – Nintendo Life
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67. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Mario games are almost always delightful, but only a select few are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is definitely one of them, chucking out ludicrous jokes left, right, and centre from beginning to end. It represents the Mario franchise at its most self-aware, constantly putting poor ol’ Green ‘Stache down for his supposed lack of appeal next to his heroic brother, while berating Bowser for his sheer buffoonery. And who can forget the magnificent Fawful, who would return in the also-excellent Bowser’s Inside Story? But none of Superstar Saga’s storytelling would hit half as hard were it not for the excellent RPG mechanics at its core. Moves learned throughout the game become useful both in and outside of battle, while timed button presses add a layer of immediacy to the turn-based combat. Not a moment feels wasted.
Ollie Reynolds – Nintendo Life
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66. Donkey Kong (Arcade)
Mario might have gotten the jump(man) on this game’s eponymous ape in the years that followed, but it was Donkey Kong who everyone associated with Nintendo in the early ’80s. To entire generations of console gamers nowadays, arcades sound almost apocryphal. Pumping actual, physical cash into a hulking great machine to play a video game for a few minutes? What a strange concept. Spend those few minutes with DK lobbing barrels at you, though, and it’s easy to understand, even with its old-school fall damage and somewhat stiff feel. It’s a shame that high-score controversy tends to dominate discussion of this coin-op classic these days because, given the chance, Kong is still king. Scaling 100 metres across four screens is a challenge every gamer should undertake.
Gavin Lane – Nintendo Life
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65. Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age
While not strictly a Nintendo game, Dragon Quest XI makes our list due to the franchise’s strong ties to Nintendo and the simple fact that it’s on the short list of the best pure JRPGs ever made. Announced as an early NX game (the codename for Nintendo Switch) in 2016, Dragon Quest XI made it to Switch in 2019 and proved to be its definitive version, with additional story content, a fully orchestral soundtrack, and an optional 2D mode with SNES-inspired pixel art. Beyond the Switch release’s enhancements, Dragon Quest XI is just a treat for old-school RPG fans with great turn-based combat and a beautiful, vibrant world to explore alongside an unforgettable band of characters. Everything in Dragon Quest XI feels so meticulously designed and lovingly polished, and it’s easy to see that this is the game Square Enix made to celebrate the legendary franchise’s 30th anniversary.
Logan Plant – IGN
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64. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
Smooth and acrobatic movement is something that many people take for granted in modern games, but there aren’t many that show the evolution quite like Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Its predecessor already left countless thousands besotted with its over-the-top weaponry and combat contrasted against the shocking realism of its eponymous beasts, but MH4 broke the shackles of the Earth and let your hunter traverse the verticality of its world. That, and send a surprisingly well-behaved insect to do some of your dirty work whilst you pole-vaulted up to smash the face of a not-so-hapless Gore Magala. Oh, and this was all done on the 3DS, a console about as powerful as a particularly milky cup of tea. Marvellous stuff.
Alex Olney – Nintendo Life
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63. Street Fighter 2 Turbo
It’s hard to imagine the fighting game world without Street Fighter, but it’s a series that didn’t truly make its mark until Street Fighter 2 Turbo arrived on the SNES in 1993. The legacy roster of Street Fighter that’s still predominantly used today started here, with Street Fighter 2 being the first appearance for series favourites like Blanka, Chun-Li, Guile, M. Bison, and Zangief. It’s only Ryu and Ken that featured as playable characters before this, marking Street Fighter 2 as the true starting point for the iconic cast of characters we’ve loved and played for decades. Along with Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter 2 Turbo created and defined a new genre of video games, and both are still the standard bearers to this day.
Dale Driver – IGN
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62. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
Is it a Mario game? A Yoshi game? Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, because Yoshi’s Island is an absolute banger either way. The colouring book aesthetic and beautiful sunset gradients are simply astonishing, looking just as gorgeous now as they did 30 years ago. With the now-iconic flutter jump and egg-hatching mechanics, this cemented the character as a permanent fixture in the platforming genre in his own right. As a latecomer to the SNES, the game demonstrated the developers’ mastery of the console, too, with Nintendo EAD pushing creativity to the max to produce what might well be the company’s finest 2D platformer until Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
Ollie Reynolds – Nintendo Life
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61. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Public opinion on Twilight Princess has radically ebbed and flowed over time, but nearly 20 years after its launch, there’s a dedicated subset of Zelda fans who consider it Link’s greatest adventure – and it’s easy to see why. Following formula shakeups such as Majora’s Mask’s three-day time limit and The Wind Waker’s open ocean, Twilight Princess’ quest doubles down on the classic lock-and-key dungeon gameplay franchise traditionalists adore. It’s a worthy pseudo-sequel to Ocarina of Time, with grand, atmospheric dungeons like Arbiter’s Grounds and Snowpeak Ruins, a truly epic story with some of the most cinematic moments in Hyrule history, and the best companion to ever join Link’s side in Midna. Sure, Wolf Link’s bug-hunting segments can be annoying at times, and Hyrule Field is a little too empty, but don’t tell me you can watch Twilight Princess’ final farewell and not feel something.
Logan Plant – IGN
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60. Pokémon Black and White 2
The first direct sequel to a Pokemon game, Black and White 2 built on the foundations of its predecessor through a remixed Unova region filled with pocket monsters of all generations and the returning looming threat of Team Plasma. Capping off arguably the most engaging story of the whole series, the enigmatic N serves as a fantastic rival with an edge not often seen in the mostly sanitised series. It’s relatively dark and epic in scale, all the while pushing the technical boundaries of the Nintendo DS far beyond its ending, offering a real sense of exploration deep into one of the most generous post-games Pokemon ever has.
Simon Cardy – IGN
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59. Perfect Dark
GoldenEye may have put consoles on the map for first-person shooters, but Perfect Dark managed to take everything that delighted us in the ground-breaking Bond shooter and just ratchet it up to ridiculous levels. It’s as if Rare played Santa and checked off virtually everything on GoldenEye fans’ wishlists: a two-player co-op mode, crazier gadgets, bots, advanced stats tracking, and seemingly endless amounts of customizability and settings. There’s even a counter-operative mode where the second player tries to stop the other from succeeding in the main campaign. The customizability and high ambitions overall could bring the framerate to a crawl, but forgiving fans (count us in) didn’t care and kept slapping each other and blowing each other up in increasingly spectacular ways. A defining split-screen experience in need of a better preservation effort on Nintendo Switch Online (seriously, someone please finally address the native control options).
Peer Schneider – IGN
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58. Donkey Kong ’94
Donkey Kong ‘94 disguises itself as a handheld remake of the arcade original through its first four stages, but after you dismantle the girders and drop the big ape on his head, the true game reveals itself to be one of the most ambitious reimaginings in Nintendo history. What follows is over 100 stages of pure puzzle platforming inspired by Nintendo’s timeless classic where Mario must climb ladders, flip switches, and hurdle over enemies to reach the elusive Donkey Kong. It’s not just a nostalgia trip, though; DK ‘94 is responsible for introducing some of Mario’s most formative moves – like his triple jump and backflip – a full two years before Super Mario 64 would bring them into 3D.
Logan Plant – IGN
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57. Splatoon 3
Nintendo took the winning gameplay of its first two ink-’em-ups and added a much-needed set of quality-of-life improvements to make the finest Splatoon experience so far. Did you know Splatoon 3 is the first in the series that guarantees you to be on the same team as your friends? Along with basic matchmaking functionality that finally allowed its phenomenal team-based gameplay to fully shine, Splatoon 3 also brings the biggest single-player campaign to date, a fantastically dystopian roguelite mode, an in-universe collectible card game, and more maps, weapons, and customization than ever before. But beyond its wealth of content, Splatoon is simply the most stylish Nintendo series around and the developer’s shining example of how to consistently support a game for years after launch. Nintendo even held a Coachella-like music festival to send off Splatoon 3, and it was even more awesome than it sounds.
Logan Plant – IGN
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56. Super Mario Party Jamboree
After 25 years of rolling dice, playing minigames, and betraying friends, the Mario Party formula reached new heights in 2024’s Super Mario Party Jamboree. It has the greatest set of boards in the franchise, and whether you’re buying game-changing items in a colorful shopping mall or planning around high tide at the pirate-themed lagoon, there are more ways to strategize than ever before. Of course, Mario Party wouldn’t be Mario Party without its crazy luck-based antics, but Jamboree strikes the best balance between skill and chance we’ve seen so far. It also has the biggest character roster in the series, a thrilling set of new and returning minigames that celebrate Nintendo history in surprising ways (You play WarioWare! And Donkey Konga!), and gorgeous presentation, making it an easy choice to crown Jamboree as Mario Party’s defining superstar.
Logan Plant – IGN
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55. Bayonetta 2
For its sequel, Bayonetta made the shift from multiplatform to Nintendo exclusivity as the astonishing follow-up landed on the Wii U with an elegant, slicing backflip and planted its feet as one of the console’s few truly essential games. PlatinumGames’ trademark action excess is on full display as the titular acrobatic witch dispatches with all manner of heavenly and hellish entities thrown her way in an ultraviolent style most of us can’t even dream up, yet only program in such polished detail. It’s a masterclass in character action and a prime example of a developer working at the peak of its powers.
Simon Cardy – IGN
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54. Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Before New Horizons let villagers essentially play God by molding an entire island to their exact specifications, Animal Crossing: New Leaf represented a finish line of sorts for the franchise’s original concept that began on GameCube (Or N64 in Japan). There’s plenty of customization to be found for sure, but New Leaf is more about living as a resident in a quirky community as opposed to building the perfect island paradise. Its inviting, relaxing atmosphere worked its way into our daily routines for years, and whether it was collecting furniture from the largest catalogue in the series to date, chatting with the lively, well-written townsfolk, or simply soaking up the immaculate vibes, there’s an unquantifiable charm to New Leaf’s slice of life that’s still worth revisiting even after New Horizons gave us tons of new toys to play with.
Logan Plant – IGN
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53. Metroid Dread
After Other M and Federation Force made fans wonder if the Metroid experience they fell in love with during the 8- and 16-bit days was gone forever, Spanish developer MercurySteam pitched Nintendo on a remake of Metroid Fusion. We got a competent Metroid II remake instead – but little did we know then that it was just the warm-up course. Released in 2021, Metroid Dread arrived as a triumphant return to classic 2D Metroid. Challenging, often downright scary, and absolutely gorgeous, it wraps up the Samus Story by paying homage to all that came before. Metroid Dread at times makes you question whether you can beat the next challenge – but those who persevere will come to the most satisfying realization: it was inside of you from the very beginning. It’s not all about speed and dexterity – you overcome Dread… when you no longer fear dread.
Peer Schneider – IGN
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52. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!
WarioWare might be one of Nintendo’s most difficult sells. A back-to-back marathon of seconds-long microgames is hardly the most appealing concept on paper, but it absolutely rules in practice. And is there any better way to see it in action than with the title that started it all? WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! is the tightest entry of the bunch, and the perfect introduction to Wario’s wonderful world of weirdness. It’s got it all: Nintendo references, nose picking, a life-like sleepy cat. Throw in some addictive side content and perhaps the most intuitively simple controls going, and you’re onto a winner. The series would go on to make the most of almost every system gimmick Nintendo could throw at it, but when it really comes down to it, microgame mayhem has never been purer than back on the GBA.
Jim Norman – Nintendo Life
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51. Advance Wars
Ah, Advance Wars. So ahead of the curve. So perfectly crafted as to be almost impossible to criticise. There aren’t too many games out there that stand the test of time quite as well as Intelligent Systems’ dinky turn-based classic, and even with a flashy Switch remaster knocking about, we wouldn’t think twice about settling in for a night with the exquisitely made Game Boy Advance original. Intense, addictive, strategic to a fault, and with a learning curve that teaches you gently as you go, Advance Wars is the definition of a pure strategy classic for the ages.
PJ O’Reilly – Nintendo Life
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50. Mario Kart Double Dash
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 also 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.
Simon Cardy – IGN
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49. Luigi’s Mansion 3
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
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
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47. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (All Versions)
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 collectibles, 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
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46. F-Zero X
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 center 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
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45. Super Mario Bros.
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
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44. Banjo-Kazooie
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 humor 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
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43. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
What if Mario were an elephant? What if King Boo were 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
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42. Mario Kart World
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
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41. The Legend of Zelda
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 the 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
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40. Super Smash Bros. Melee
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, and 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
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39. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
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 collectibles, and we’re in big win city.
PJ O’Reilly – Nintendo Life
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38. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
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
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37. Metroid: Zero Mission (+ Metroid)
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 on not just tolerating, but encouraging sequence-breaking, and you’ve got a timeless classic absolutely worth going back to.
Peer Schneider – IGN
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36. GoldenEye 007
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
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35. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
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
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34. Star Fox 64
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
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33. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
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
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32. EarthBound
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
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31. Mega Man 2
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
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30. Pikmin 4
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
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29. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
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
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28. Xenoblade Chronicles
Xenoblade Chronicles isn’t just a great game. Everything about it, from its graphics and technical achievements to the music, story, and 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
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27. Pokemon Yellow (Red/Blue)
The video game world would be very different without Pokémon. Its influence stretches far beyond gaming and 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
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26. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
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
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25. Super Mario 64
The ’90s were jam-packed with game developers striving to bring their mascots into the 3D realm, with most believing that these colourful characters were only ever destined to live in two dimensions. Enter Super Mario 64. Not only was Super Mario 64 Mario’s first dabble into a 3D space (something that would become a staple for years to come), but it was also the launch title for the Nintendo 64, making the plumber’s first 3D adventure a huge risk for Nintendo. The risk paid off. Super Mario 64 is not only one of the greatest games for the N64, but it’s still, perhaps arguably, one of the greatest 3D platforming games of all time. Not bad for a nearly 30-year-old game that, despite having a familiar face, took an enormous swing.
Dale Driver – IGN
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24. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
The story of how Majora’s Mask got made is buckwild: the team behind Ocarina of Time was challenged to create a new game using the same engine and assets in just one year. They almost made it, finishing in 15 months. In a testament to the power of creativity under strict limitations, Majora’s Mask is one of the most interesting, fun, unique, and emotional Zelda games. The repetitive three-day structure, the strict character schedules, the smaller world scale, and the perfect freedom to shift events within that structure let Majora’s cast of characters shine in a way that no other Zelda game does.
By the time you’re done, you’ve learned the eccentricities, habits, desires, and fears of every single Clock Town resident, and you’ve likely become deeply attached to them. Meanwhile, the looming giant moon and overall dark, haunting atmosphere of Majora’s add to the emotional stakes, as the consequences for Link not stepping into their lives are too dire to think about for long. Rife with some of the weirdest and grimmest quests in the series, but also some of the most beautiful and moving, Majora’s Mask remains a complete standout in the series even 25 years after its release.
Rebekah Valentine – IGN
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23. Super Mario Galaxy
After a sidestep with Super Mario Sunshine, Nintendo decided to go back to its platforming roots for its next 3D Mario, but then flipped those fundamentals completely on their head with Super Mario Galaxy. It’s miniature planet playgrounds play home to a whole host of experimental ideas that went far beyond a simple hop and jump, in no small part thanks to a lack of typical surefooted gravity. This newfound floatiness, clever integration with the Wii remote, and kaleidoscopic colourscape were soundtracked perfectly by bombastic orchestration that never threatened to let your senses rest. It pushed the Wii as far as it could go, proving a perfect example of Nintendo squeezing every ounce of joy out of the technical limitations of its hardware, and it would only be beaten on the platform by its ever-so-slightly more impressive follow-up…
Simon Cardy – IGN
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22. Donkey Kong Bananza
Arguably, no Nintendo game feels as good to play as Donkey Kong Bananza. DK’s destructive, expressive moveset and the underground world’s intentionally-designed breakable layers are a perfect match, and whether you’re punching through a wall of stone or surfing on a chunk of sand you tore up from the ground, Bananza is always foundationally fun and immensely satisfying. It’s a remarkable achievement of synergy between a world and its main character, and it’s endlessly enjoyable to experiment in this dynamic toybox and discover the ways each unique layer reacts to and crumbles before you.
Bananza builds around its phenomenal game feel by taking inspiration from the highlights of the Switch era’s game design philosophy: Breath of the Wild’s sequence-breaking freedom, Tears of the Kingdom’s bonkers mechanical ambition, Super Mario Odyssey’s platforming creativity, and Splatoon’s fresh personality – and it hands all of these newer ideas to its oldest character, resulting in a modern Nintendo masterpiece that’s simultaneously nostalgic for all eras of Donkey Kong and a striking original direction for one of gaming’s most historic characters. It also redefines the original Nintendo relationship: for the last 40 years, saying “DK and Pauline” evoked memories of the giant ape kidnapping Lady and dragging her up 75 meters. For the next 40, it’ll bring back memories of DK and his best friend joyously singing and punching their way down to the planet’s core.
Logan Plant – IGN
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21. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
A Link Between Worlds is quietly one of Zelda’s most important games. The humble 3DS adventure had big shoes to fill as a sequel to the SNES classic A Link to the Past, and it ended up meeting those expectations and then some. This top-down entry struck a perfect balance between old and new, as we revisited the iconic Hyrule map from 1992 while engaging with Nintendo’s first experimental steps that directly led to Breath of the Wild, where Link was free to tackle Lorule’s eight dungeons in any order. To facilitate this convention-breaking change, Link almost immediately gains access to his entire toolkit through its smart item rental system, which is responsible for introducing fan-favorite Ravio, who boldly sets up shop in Link’s house.
We haven’t even mentioned A Link Between Worlds’ ingenious main mechanic: Link merges with the wall and becomes a painting, forcing you to think about a top-down space in three dimensions. This simple concept leads to some of the most inventive puzzles in the series. ALBW also broke Zelda’s growing pattern of slow starts that was widely criticized in Skyward Sword two years earlier. There’s no six-hour tutorial here – you’re swinging your sword in the first mini dungeon within 10 minutes of booting it up. You can see Breath of the Wild’s open-air DNA sprinkled throughout every inch of A Link Between Worlds, and the Zelda series wouldn’t be where it is today without this overlooked gem.
Logan Plant – IGN
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20. Resident Evil 4
By the time Resident Evil 4 rolled around, the played-out formula of the series was in need of a reinvention. Not only did Resident Evil 4 shatter expectations, it quickly became recognised as one of the greatest games of all time when it initially (and exclusively) launched on the Nintendo GameCube in 2005. Resident Evil 4 once again puts you in the shoes of Leon S. Kennedy, who is in rural Spain on a mission to rescue the president’s daughter. Predictably, that plot quickly thickens as he gets pulled into a new threat and a new deadly virus threatens to sweep the world. Coupled with the fresh location for the series was a brand new over-the-shoulder playstyle, a playstyle that still heavily influences the genre to this day.
Resident Evil was (and is still considered) a traditional PlayStation series, and although this wasn’t the first of the franchise to be playable on a Nintendo console, it was unquestionably the most impactful. For a full year, the GameCube was the ONLY platform where you could play what is often considered to be the best of the series, and that alone makes Resident Evil 4 a stone-cold Nintendo classic.
Dale Driver – IGN
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19. Final Fantasy 6
You can fiercely debate what the best Final Fantasy is for hours, but for us, one Super Nintendo game in particular has to be in the conversation, and possibly at the top. The first game to be directed by Yoshinori Kitase, who would then lead the charge on VII and VIII, Final Fantasy VI was wildly ambitious; even now, it’s almost unmatched in terms of scale. Marking a huge departure from the series’ medieval, traditional fantasy roots, and led by a trio of protagonists, it retains the ATB turn-based battle system’s simplicity with a plethora of customisation options in the form of Espers and the sheer number of party members you can have.
In fact, that huge cast of characters almost all get time in the spotlight, whether taking the lead in the party or swapping perspectives between different groups. The visual and musical spectacle of putting a miniature opera inside a game has never been attempted again. The entire second half runs the gamut from anger to faith to despair to hope. There are so many little optional secrets that breathe life into this world, a world that evolves, transforms, and is torn apart throughout. And who can forget Kefka, one of gaming’s most despicable villains? Final Fantasy VI is, quite simply, timeless, with a political, emotional story that’s forever resonant and impressively customisable gameplay that means no two playthroughs are quite the same.
Alana Hagues – Nintendo Life
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18.Fire Emblem: Awakening
After several entries failed to meet sales expectations, Intelligent Systems started developing Fire Emblem Awakening as the tactical RPG franchise’s final sendoff, including every feature they desired to ensure they had no regrets. But they didn’t know at the time that Awakening’s big additions – like its new Casual mode that disabled permadeath and a renewed focus on relationship-building, marriage, and children – would prove to be very popular as it surged to become the best-selling game in franchise history. Deservingly so, as Awakening is a fantastic strategy RPG with great maps and mechanics, fan-favorite characters you feel emotionally invested in, and best-in-class writing and localization that make every dialogue box worth reading. Awakening’s characters may not have had feet, but the game itself gave the Fire Emblem series legs for years to follow.
Logan Plant – IGN
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17. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Rarely has a game felt quite as culturally relevant on release as Animal Crossing: New Horizons in 2020. While everyone hunkered down indoors, separated from friends and family, Nintendo released a game that was all about the outdoors, all about friends, all about being together. We all needed it, and we all welcomed it. New Horizons didn’t reinvent the Animal Crossing wheel, but it sure as hell refined it. Nintendo took the tried and tested formula and threw in enough bells (literally) and whistles to make the experience feel simultaneously new and familiar. Picturing an Animal Crossing game without terraforming and crafting just doesn’t feel right now, and we have New Horizons to thank for that.
We all have stories of the countless hours we spent with the game that first summer — our daily routines of fishing, chopping, and shell collecting, the excitement of finally landing that dream villager, or our learned manipulations of the ‘stalk market’. More than a few of us have hit that island reset button to capture the magic all over again, and the Happy Home Designer DLC only encouraged us to return for another hundred hours. Animal Crossing: New Horizons might forever be remembered for the global context into which it was released, but five years on, there are few Nintendo games that we’d rather cosy up with after a long day of real life.
Jim Norman – Nintendo Life
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16. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
It’s difficult to imagine another Nintendo game that’s enjoyed such a drastic shift in perception since its initial reveal. Originally showcased at 2001 Space World, The Wind Waker was widely derided for its cel-shaded visuals; a controversial creative choice for fans excited by a previous tease that depicted a more realistic take on Link and Ganondorf. Leave it to Nintendo to deliver a delightful surprise, though. The Wind Waker is one of the most expressive Zelda entries, with Link’s journey across the Great Sea aboard The King of Red Lions providing memories that put most adventures to shame.
Whether you’re plundering treasure from the ocean floor, sneaking your way through the menacing Forsaken Fortress, or simply enjoying the sights, sounds, and music of Windfall Island, Zelda has rarely exuded such a remarkable air of, yes, adventure. While (some) fans may have once scoffed at the visuals, The Wind Waker remains timeless, looking just as beautiful today as it did back in 2002. There’s a reason folks are desperate for a Switch port; this marks a serious high point for the Zelda series. A simply stunning game through and through.
Ollie Reynolds – Nintendo Life
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15. Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver
The DS remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver are the legendary monster-battling RPG series at its finest. Giving the Game Boy Color’s best games a visual upgrade was always going to be a crowd-pleaser, but it also allowed new Nintendo players to grab hold of one of the greatest handheld adventures to ever exist. Much emphasis is often placed on the big postgame reveal of the whole of Red and Blue’s Kanto region existing beyond the Pokemon League’s walls, but that shouldn’t take away from just how good the journey leading up to that point in Johto is. With memorable moments such as the Lake of Rage’s Red Gyarados and legendary encounters with either Ho-Oh or Lugia, sticking long in the memory. Simply put, HeartGold and SoulSilver are Pokemon at its very best.
Simon Cardy – IGN
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14. Super Mario Galaxy 2
After flipping the gravity switch and creating a masterpiece with Galaxy, you’d be forgiven for thinking Nintendo’s finest were treading water with a direct sequel, playing for time while they figured out where Mario could possibly go after conquering the cosmos. Remarkably, Super Mario Galaxy 2 leaves the first game feeling a little vanilla, a little ‘safe’ by comparison. It throws out ideas and mechanics at breakneck pace, moving gleefully from one novelty to the next, never slowing down, never looking back, never dropping the ball.
Yet its ‘more is more’ approach never overwhelms, either, only entertains – whether you’re riding your dinosaur pal, spinning to create cloud platforms, or warping between galaxies on a starship shaped like your face. Only the first game’s touching storybook narrative is missing from the mix, but it’s hard to feel its absence with this much going on. And who plays Mario for the story? Galaxy 2 is a riotous carnival on a cosmic scale, a game that throws a thousand ideas at the wall and, in doing so, demonstrates what sets Nintendo apart from practically every other developer on the planet: improbably, every one of those ideas sticks.
Gavin Lane – Nintendo Life
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13. Metroid Prime (+ Remastered)
While the 2024 remaster polished up Metroid Prime’s visual luster, it’s a testimony to developer Retro’s original design that little else had to be changed to make a 2002 game feel as if it were designed today. The (then) controversial decision to flip a genre-defining third-person 2D series into what on the surface looked like a first-person shooter quickly proved to be the right choice. More than any Metroid game before it, Metroid Prime made us feel like we were locked behind Samus’s visor, isolated and cut off, focused solely on survival and finding a way out. As Samus, players had to face an ever-escalating alien threat head-on while indianajonesing through temple ruins and using some of the coolest special powers (morph ball!) to get the next door open. It was – and is – vintage Metroid, and at the same time something truly new and special.
Peer Schneider – IGN
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12. Super Mario Bros. 3
Some NES games haven’t aged well. Super Mario Bros. 3 is not one of them. This is one of those rare games that, if it were released now as a ‘retro throwback’, we wouldn’t bat an eyelid. In fact, it would probably rank amongst our favourite games of any given year. The third entry refined and expanded upon everything that made the 1985 original so special. You’ve got multiple themed worlds that still look great, incredible power-ups like the Super Leaf and Tanooki Suit, and a handful of charming minigames to mix things up a bit.
But where SMB3 truly shines is in its movement, which feels almost impossibly slick and responsive no matter the situation. With gameplay and presentation that would go on to influence every subsequent entry, all the way up to Super Mario Bros. Wonder, it’s really no surprise that we consider this the very best game on NES. It’s a remarkable feat, and one of the finest achievements from Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka.
Ollie Reynolds – Nintendo Life
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11. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
“Everyone Is Here!” Those three words paired with the seemingly impossible return of Solid Snake set the Nintendo world on fire, and the hype burned brightly throughout Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s escalating series of utterly mindblowing character reveals. What started as the ultimate museum of Nintendo and Smash Bros. history quickly transformed into a celebration of video games as a whole. When the Smash logo kicked in at the end of a Nintendo Direct, you knew something special was imminent – anything felt possible, because everything truly was possible. Banjo & Kazooie. Fatal Fury and Tekken. Persona 5 and Dragon Quest. Minecraft Steve, whose reveal may have literally broken the internet.
With Ultimate, Smash director Masahiro Sakurai and Nintendo pulled off a genuine miracle in game development that may never be repeated again. It’s overwhelming to think about how many phone calls had to be made and how many corporate executives had to say “yes” to make all these guest appearances happen, a feeling only magnified when we first saw the Mickey Mouse keychain indicating Sora finally got his invitation.
But on top of the flashy reveals and playground fantasies made reality, Ultimate is just a phenomenal fighting game, with great action that scales between two and eight players, a staggering amount of content to dive into, and an unbelievable attention to detail across everything from character movesets that reference other games to possibly the best collection of video game music ever assembled. Ultimate is the crowning achievement of the Super Smash Bros. series, Sakurai’s impressive career, and one of Nintendo’s greatest accomplishments of all time.
Logan Plant – IGN
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10. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
When Mario Kart 8 launched on the floundering Wii U in 2014, no one would have guessed that it would go on to become the fifth best-selling video game of all time thanks to its Deluxe rerelease on Nintendo Switch. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is far more than a drag-and-drop port, however, as the additions it stacks on top of an already amazing gameplay foundation result in the best kart racer ever made, and one of the finest Nintendo games of all time. There are a whopping 96 tracks to choose from, including some of the best the series has ever seen, like the three-part descent down Mount Wario that feels ripped straight out of an action movie. It’s got a huge roster of characters along with guest appearances from other Nintendo franchises such as Zelda, Splatoon, and Animal Crossing – not to mention the stunning renditions of Mute City and Big Blue that make us long for a new F-Zero in HD.
Speaking of graphics, Mario Kart 8 remains one of the best-looking Nintendo games ever, with great art direction and minute attention to detail that makes every moment shine, like Mario’s mustache fluttering in the wind or the iconic Luigi death stare. If you’re having friends or family over, your best bet is still to break out Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. You’re practically guaranteed to have a great time – until someone hits you with a blue shell and passes you at the finish line, at least.
Logan Plant – IGN
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9. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
A Link to the Past seemed like an anachronism when it debuted in Japan in 1991 – and players playing it for the first time today may be surprised how sophisticated – and modern – it still feels more than 30 years later. Its all-star EAD design team created a compelling quest that effectively creates the illusion of an open world, with each new item Link discovers acting as both a weapon and a key – a path to becoming stronger, solving puzzles, and unlocking new areas. But the moment players discover the Magic Mirror, the brilliant design fully reveals itself. The world map exists twice, and the small differences matter greatly. An instant hit back then and an undisputed classic today, A Link to the Past created the template for gaming history’s best action-adventures.
Peer Schneider – IGN
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8. Super Metroid
Following an explosive introduction to Ridley, Super Metroid first takes you on a reunion tour of the original Metroid’s greatest hits, where you see what’s changed on the planet Zebes. But once Samus Aran descends to Brinstar and the perfect atmospheric music kicks in, you know you’re about to experience an all-timer. And Super Metroid never lets up for a single second, taking players on a practically flawless journey whose groundbreaking non-linear design continues to inspire metroidvania developers more than 30 years later (it’s even in the name!). Its mood is magnificently eerie; its sprites and colors still astonish to this day; its unexpected secrets are supremely satisfying to uncover; it’s a masterpiece in every sense of the word. While the credits rolled after the empowering, emotional finale against Mother Brain and the adrenaline-fueled escape from Zebes, our collective understanding of the action-adventure genre looked a lot like Maridia’s glass tunnel: completely shattered.
Logan Plant – IGN
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7. Chrono Trigger
Thirty years after its debut on the SNES, Chrono Trigger still remains not just one of the best Nintendo games of all time, but one of the best games ever made, period. It’s immediately charming in its detailed sprite work and lovely, varied environments. And its soundtrack is arguably one of, if not the finest work of Yasunori Mitsuda, with sweeping orchestral moments, earworm dungeon themes, and tender emotional peaks. The story itself is familiar at first, with a typical young boy hero caught up in a magic adventure beyond his understanding. But the plot quickly twists and turns, jumping between several time periods, introducing surprising cast members like a frog man, a robot, and one of the villains, and skillfully conducts one of the most surprising twists in gaming that the player can choose to resolve…or not, depending on how they want to play Chrono Trigger.
The ATB battle system and the mixture of scripted and environmental encounters feel natural and fresh, without becoming obnoxious or grindy. Chrono Trigger has a number of hidden sidequests that give more insight into the lovable characters making up your party, if you want them, a few legendary items to find, and a long list of alternative endings. And yet, there’s nothing about Chrono Trigger that overstays its welcome or feels like filler. Every era, every beat, every path is exact in its placement and timing, concluding at last in one of the most epic RPG final boss fights in history. RPGs themselves will continue to grow and evolve, era after era, but it’s difficult to imagine what could dethrone the perfect harmony formed by all the excellent components of Chrono Trigger working together.
Rebekah Valentine – IGN
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6. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time reinvented the combination of action, puzzle-solving, and exploration gameplay already perfected in A Link to the Past for a new generation. While its predecessor’s 2D style has aged just a tad better than Ocarina of Time’s polygonal world, it remains one of gaming’s most notable achievements. Ocarina of Time takes the series’ trademark puzzle dungeons and gives them new depth – literally – by transforming them into 3D playgrounds. Rather than just replicating Mario 64’s innovations, it de-emphasizes platform jumping and instead invents a lock-on combat system that has been featured in nearly every action game since. Add to that horseback riding, a rich atmosphere underscored by unforgettable music and sound, and genre-defining puzzle design, and it’s easy to see why many Nintendo fans consider it the crowning action-adventure achievement.
Peer Schneider – IGN
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5. Tetris
Ever close your eyes when you’re trying to sleep and all you see are the same seven shapes seemingly imprinted on the underside of your eyelids? You aren’t alone. Scientists say that every person in possession of a Game Boy in 1989 suffered from this very condition. What is there to say about Tetris that hasn’t been said already? A simple, yet masterful puzzle game centered around slotting a series of falling shapes into groups of lines while battling the ever-increasing speed of the Tetriminoes and your finger reflexes. Although first created by Alexey Pajitnov four years prior, it was its arrival on the Game Boy that truly made it reach a global audience and become a sensation rarely seen, if ever, equaled. And despite being four decades old, there’s still nothing quite like it. That simplicity and ability for anyone to just pick up and play – helped by numerous versions and reinventions over the years – have made Tetris stand the test of time and remain, to this day, amongst the purest fun you can have with a video game.
Simon Cardy – IGN
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4. Super Mario Odyssey
Deciding on the greatest 3D Mario game will always be a matter of personal taste. Some hold the nostalgic invention of Mario 64 close to their hearts, while others yearn for the out-of-this-world creativity delivered in spades by the Galaxy games. Our pick is Super Mario Odyssey, the Switch’s only original 3D Mario, but one so complete it warrants a generation of its own to savour. Granting everyone’s favourite parkour plumber a new hat companion, Cappy, that expands his pool of abilities massively, he’s an absolute delight to control as he dashes, double jumps, and hops into the brains of all manner of outlandish creatures from T-Rexes to Chain Chomps.
Set across multiple expansive worlds full of secrets and collectibles, and soundtracked by an outrageously enjoyable funk-infested soundtrack, it’s a true evolution of a time-old formula. Whether dodging taxi cabs in the vibrant metropolis of New Donk City with its odes to platformers past, or bouncing around the sherbert-sweet pastels and gelatinous joys of the Luncheon Kingdom, it’s a complete wonder from start to finish. Mario has never looked, sounded, or played this good. At least, when it comes to three dimensions…”
Simon Cardy – IGN
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3. Super Mario World
It’s incredible to think that Super Mario World launched alongside the SNES, because it remains not just one of the platform’s shining lights, but one of the best video games of all time. Following the sublime Super Mario Bros. 3 was never going to be an easy task – and the fact that the sequel would be on an entirely new system could only have made things even more challenging for director Takashi Tezuka and producer Shigeru Miyamoto. However, the team at Nintendo EAD produced a 2D platformer that’s positively bursting with life and gleeful invention; this is a game that confidently builds on what came before it, yet manages to break fresh ground and set a new standard in the genre.
Super Mario World arguably established a series tradition that still holds true today – it introduces gameplay mechanics and features which are seen only fleetingly before the game moves onto the next fresh idea. There’s ridable Yoshis, Switch Palaces, Ghost Houses, multiple exits, underwater sections, The Star Road… the list goes on. This is all bound together in an explorable, node-based overworld which rewards repeat play and encourages you to find all 96 stage exits – a task which, even 35 years later, is a badge of honour for any self-respecting Nintendo fan.
Damien McFerran – Nintendo Life
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2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
For some of us, that first bite will always be sweetest.
Breath of the Wild came after nearly two decades of Eiji Aonuma and co. following Ocarina’s familiar recipe. A new Zelda was still a treat, but it was essentially the same dish with different seasoning (a novel time-loop narrative, gorgeous cel-shaded stylings, some sword waggle), and tiredness had crept in with the timeline. Could the ‘wonder’ be restored? Could the series evolve without losing the elements that made it ‘Zelda’?
Nintendo answered those questions emphatically in 2017, and it was hard to imagine going back to the old template. ‘Zelda but open-world’ covers it only in the grossest, most reductive sense, ignoring the impeccable polish needed to avoid bogging down the adventure with dreary waypoint checklists or creating a playground of pure jank. The underlying physics system and the emergent interactions it affords work in tandem with Hyrule’s meticulously designed geography. A dozen distractions draw your eye from any point on the map — a peculiar rocky outcrop, a grassy knoll, a mountain peak that pierces the rays of the setting sun — and each one offers an irresistible micro-adventure should you make a detour.
It was a perfect showcase for Switch, too, proving that the little tablet could handle games of the grandest scale. Hyrule went everywhere with you, and your in-game instincts and ponderances blossomed beyond the screen, creeping into your daily life. Hmm, that tree on the hill, a prime Korok hiding spot! But how to glide over there…
BOTW or TOTK, then? They’re both essential, of course, offering variations on the same delicious dish. Three-quarters of Team NL would take the Wild over Kingdom and the kitchen sink, though. An extraordinary video game.
Gavin Lane – Nintendo Life
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1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Breath of the Wild may be the more important game, but we firmly believe The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the better one, and that Link’s epic adventure across the skies, lands, and depths of Hyrule is the greatest Nintendo game of all time. This wildly ambitious sequel introduced an unbelievable amount of inventive, well-executed ideas that built on Breath of the Wild’s groundbreaking formula while also improving upon some of its predecessor’s shortcomings, once again raising the bar for Nintendo’s legendary franchise.
Link’s new set of abilities is so creatively and technically impressive that it made developers across the world both jealous of and inspired by what Nintendo managed to pull off. Whether it’s ascending through nearly any ceiling in Hyrule or using Ultrahand to build the Zonai machine of your dreams – or simply a bridge made up of 20 logs – Tears of the Kingdom’s buffet of complex, polished mechanics encourages player experimentation and ignites the most personal, improvisational, and magical open world masterpiece we’ve ever experienced.
Breath of the Wild’s unmatched organic discovery returned and was only enhanced by Tears of the Kingdom’s wider enemy variety and more fleshed-out Hyrule – including its terrifying, inverted basement known as the Depths – and the quest reached its zenith with a climactic finale that’s a worthy sendoff to the grand journey Link has just taken. But in the end, the journey of Tears of the Kingdom is shaped by our imaginations, where every success is a triumph, every failure’s a story worth telling, and every solution feels uniquely yours.
You could argue the significance of other Nintendo games over Tears of the Kingdom. But no game better showcases the most important elements of Nintendo’s core design philosophy, that’s allowed them to push this medium forward over more than 40 years of game development: innovation, creativity, a focus on fun for everyone, and a fearlessness to try weird things. Right now, Tears of the Kingdom is Nintendo’s crowning achievement, but there’s no doubt in our minds that something will eventually dethrone it. That’s just what they do.
Logan Plant – IGN
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So, there we have it. IGN and Nintendo Life’s Top 100 Best Nintendo Games of All Time. What would your number one pick have been? Any games we missed completely that you feel had to be on there? Let us know in the comments.
