Nintendo Games

The bold third-generation Pokemon leap that introduced Hoenn, double battles, abilities, natures, and 135 new Pokemon. Pokemon Ruby Version built on Gold and Silver's foundations with a more ambitious region design, deeper competitive mechanics, and the memorable storylines of Team Magma's volcanic ambitions.

The ocean-focused counterpart to Pokemon Ruby, featuring Team Aqua's quest to expand the seas and version-exclusive Pokemon including Lotad and Sableye. Pokemon Sapphire's Hoenn region remains beloved for its mix of land and water routes and the aquatic-themed legendaries Kyogre.

The anime-tie-in Pokémon game — Yellow starts players with Pikachu who follows them on-screen (like the anime), features Team Rocket's Jessie and James, and allows catching all three original starters.

The 16-bit evolution of Punch-Out!!. Super Punch-Out!! delivered a fresh roster of colorful opponents with the same pattern-recognition excellence, adding a super combo system and beautiful SNES sprite work.

The refined sequel that many consider the peak of the Mario Party series. Mario Party 2 added themed boards with costume changes, more balanced minigames, and new Items that made the experience deeper and more strategic than the original.

The game that brought polygonal 3D into living rooms. Star Fox used the Super FX chip to render unprecedented 3D graphics on SNES hardware, launching one of gaming's most beloved space shooter franchises.

The controversial sequel that introduced Toad, Princess Peach, Wario's nemesis Wart, and the character-selection mechanic — a beloved oddity in the Mario series.

One of the SNES's most addictive puzzle games — a Yoshi's Island-skinned localization of Intelligent Systems' Panel de Pon — with the fastest and most satisfying block-matching mechanics of the 16-bit era, demanding that players swap adjacent tiles horizontally to create three-in-a-row chains while the stack relentlessly rises. The versus mode, where successful chains dump garbage blocks on opponents and trigger escalating counter-chains, rivals Tetris itself for pure head-to-head competitive tension.

The Game Boy sequel that established Wario as one of Nintendo's most inventive platformer protagonists. Wario Land 2's invulnerability mechanic — Wario can't die, but getting hurt transforms him in useful ways — and its multiple branching story paths through the same levels encouraged complete exploration and replay.

Wario's starring debut — a greedier, braver Mario that collects treasure instead of rescuing princesses. Wario Land established one of Nintendo's most creative and underappreciated franchises.

Nintendo's technical showcase for the N64 launch delivered water physics simulation so convincing that developers studied it for years — the buoy-gate racing system rewarded precise line selection and weight-shifting over raw speed, creating a racing game whose skill ceiling rewarded mastery in ways that contemporary racers did not. Wave Race 64's clean visual design and responsive handling made it an essential demonstration of what the new hardware generation could accomplish.

Nintendo's snowboarding game built physics-based trick mechanics and courses designed around realistic mountain topography into a package that felt fundamentally different from the arcade snowboarders competing for the same market. The Legendary Eagle course remains one of the most technically impressive N64 tracks — a long, branching descent that rewards knowledge of its hazards and delivers a genuine sense of mountain speed that was unmatched on home hardware in 1998.

Rare's ambitious collectathon platformer sent Donkey Kong and four Kong companions through eight enormous worlds in pursuit of 3,821 collectibles. Technically impressive and generously sized, DK64's scope is both its greatest strength and its most criticized aspect — a game of extraordinary content that some consider bloated.

One of the most beloved and unique games in the Pokemon franchise. Pokemon Snap places you in a research vehicle on Pokemon Island, tasking you with photographing 63 Pokemon in their natural habitats. The scoring system rewards creativity and discovery, making every run through each stage feel fresh.

Nintendo's SNES adaptation of Maxis's PC city-building classic, with exclusive content including Dr. Wright as the helpful advisor and unique rewards for population milestones. SimCity on SNES is many players' introduction to the city simulation genre, distinguished by its accessible interface and the joy of watching a metropolis grow from a blank grid.

Factor 5's landmark N64 flight action game — pilot iconic Star Wars vehicles across 16 missions recreating battles from the original trilogy, with an Expansion Pak mode that pushed N64 hardware to its visual limit.

Nintendo's answer to Tetris — Dr. Mario tasks players with eliminating colored viruses by matching them with colored pill halves thrown into a bottle. One of the best puzzle games on the NES.

Kirby's N64 adventure and the first Kirby game in 3D environments. The Crystal Shards introduced the ability to combine two copy abilities together — mixing Stone and Cutter creates a stone cutter blade, while Bomb plus Ice makes ice bombs — creating 35 unique power combinations that rewarded experimentation.

HAL Laboratory's 2004 GBA Kirby game with a unique open-world Metroidvania structure — instead of linear stages, the Amazing Mirror world is a single interconnected map of ten areas accessible in non-linear order, requiring Kirby to backtrack with new abilities to reach previously inaccessible sections. Features four-player simultaneous multiplayer via Game Boy Advance link cable with four Kirbys of different colors.

The GBA's Mario Kart and the only handheld entry developed by Intelligent Systems rather than Nintendo EAD. Super Circuit impressively recreates SNES Mario Kart's sprite-scaling engine on the GBA while adding new circuits and including all 20 tracks from the original Super Mario Kart as unlockable bonus content.

The most creative Pokemon spin-off of the Game Boy era. Pokemon Pinball wraps a fully-featured pinball engine around catching all 151 original Pokemon, with two tables (Red and Blue), Pokemon-catching mechanics integrated directly into pinball physics, and an evolution system that rewards longer play sessions. One of the GBC's most addictive games and the only Nintendo product to ship with a built-in rumble pak.

The first Pokemon game to bring the franchise to 3D. Pokemon Stadium let players transfer their Game Boy teams to battle on the N64 in glorious rendered combat, watch Pokemon move realistically, and prove their mastery across five cups. The Stadium mode, Gym Leader Castle, and beloved minigames made it essential.

Nintendo's 1990 NES action-adventure exclusive — StarTropics follows Mike Jones through tropical island dungeons to rescue his uncle, blending Zelda-style puzzle-dungeon exploration with baseball-throw combat in a contemporary Pacific Island setting. One of the few Nintendo-developed NES games never released in Japan.

Nintendo's GBA launch title and Super Mario Bros. 2 remake — Super Mario Advance packages the enhanced Super Mario Bros. 2 USA with the arcade classic Mario Bros., adds voiced character exclamations, enlarged sprites for the GBA screen, and a Yoshi egg-based scoring system that extends the original's already substantial replay depth.