It’s no secret that Nintendo has had a profound impact on the history of the video game industry.
After an epic collapse of the video game industry in the early ‘80’s, which left retailers with absolutely no desire to have anything to do with any product that called itself a video game, Nintendo was able to single-handily resurrect home console gaming, through their sheer determination and moxie.
What was once an emerging art-form that was left for dead, was suddenly reforged into an activity synonymous with the name Nintendo itself; through the popularity and might of the Nintendo Entertainment System.
While those salad days didn’t last forever, as new challengers rose and eventually overtook Nintendo’s position of industry leader, the company has continued to pioneer; pushing forward our conceptions of gaming, the mechanics of games, and what products will be accepted by the consumer.
After resurrecting the home console, Nintendo was able to define gaming on the go, through the portable Game Boy line of systems. When Nintendo needed to rethink both portable and home gaming, they did so through the massively successful Nintendo DS and the Wii systems.
At this moment, we are on the cusp of Nintendo’s next console, a hybrid device between a home console and a portable unit called the Nintendo Switch. Much like the launches of the Wii and the Nintendo DS, Nintendo is once again attempting to redefine the concept of what it means to play video games.
There is a huge potential impact that the Nintendo Switch may have on the market place if they are successful in their endeavors to marry home and portable gaming.
However, as good as the Nintendo Switch may or may not be, no console is going to be worth a single dime without good games.
Fortunately, Nintendo has often been at the forefront of redefining the art of gaming itself; having published numerous games that have pioneered new mechanics and established new genre’s.
With the launch of the Nintendo Switch on the horizon (March 2017 as of this writing) I thought it would be fun to take a look back through the history of Nintendo and pinpoint the ten games that in my opinion, have been the Ten Most Important Games Nintendo Ever Published.
Throughout the month of December, we’ll be counting down the titles in Nintendo’s vast history that have pioneered standards for the entire industry and laid the foundations for Nintendo’s success.
These games were the games that were often instrumental in refining the very notion of what video games are and what they can be.
We already counted down #10, #9, #8, #7 , #6, #5, #4, and #3 on our list, so you should probably take a look at those post haste.
#2. Pokemon (Red and Blue)
One might consider it somewhat sacrilegious to not feature a Mario or a Zelda game in such a lofty spot on this list. While there are certainly a number of titles in either of those two respective series that are true classics, it’s impossible to deny the momentous impact that Pokémon has had in the eighteen years since its arrival on American shores.
Simply put: had it not been for Pokémon, there’s a good chance that Nintendo may not have survived as a console manufacturer.
Although the Nintendo 64 was neck-and-neck with the Sony PlayStation after its 1996 release; by 1997 the storage limitations of Nintendo’s chosen cartridge format were starting to become a liability. Unencumbered by these storage confines, developers were able to offer fresh new experiences like Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy VII on Sony’s console: titles that were simply too expansive to fit on the N64.
By 1998, Sony had taken a clear lead in console sales worldwide, leaving Nintendo’s N64 in a distant second place.
Who knows where Nintendo would be today as a company if Pokemon hadn’t been a phenomenon.
While Nintendo was losing ground in the home console market, they remained virtually unchallenged but stagnant in the portable scene.
The fabled Game Boy was approaching the tenth anniversary of its release (1989) and its black and white screen and simplistic, NES-style graphics were starting to look pretty long in the tooth when compared to the advances being made in the home console space.
And then along came Pokémon – and everything changed.
Pokémon quickly captured the imaginations of an entire generation of children worldwide, thanks to its simple, accessible RPG mechanics, adorable cast of collectible monsters, and the brilliance of releasing it in two different versions: Red and Blue.
The duel-versions meant that some Pokémon creatures that were common in one version, were rare in the other. This encouraged kids to socialize on playgrounds around the world, as would-be Pokémon trainers got together to trade their finds and battle among one another.
It wouldn’t take long for Pokémon to go from being extremely popular – to being a full-blown phenomenon, and Nintendo was waiting with the full splendor of their marketing might.
Cartoons, movies, toys, and an extremely popular trading card game were all pumped out to add fuel to the planet’s Pokémon-mania. However, Pokémon’s greatest impact was the fuel that the game gave to Nintendo’s aging Game Boy line. Thanks to Pokemon, Nintendo was able to extend the life-span of the Game Boy for another four years, thanks to sales spurred by Pokémon and the introduction of the Game Boy Color.
Pokémon’s popularity allowed Nintendo to remain dominant in the hand-held console arena, even in the face of
Pokemon may have been a simple RPG at heart, however, its immense popularity sustained Nintendo for twenty years.
more powerful competition from the likes of SNK with the NeoGeo Pocket Color, and later Sony, and their extremely technologically impressive hand-held’s: the PlayStation Portable and the PlayStation Vita.
And if it weren’t for Nintendo’s consistently robust sales of their portable business, then it is quite possible that they wouldn’t have weathered years of lean sales of their less-popular home consoles, like the GameCube and more recently, the Wii U.
Today, Pokémon remains as popular as ever – with new titles helping capture the imaginations of an entirely new generation, as well as rekindling the love “catching ‘em all” for twenty-somethings who grew up with the series.
In 2016 Nintendo celebrated the 20th anniversary of Pokémon’s original Japanese release with a number of new releases.
First, they released Pokken Tournament, a fighting game extension of the Pokémon universe, produced by Namco’s Tekken development team.
In the summer, they released Pokémon Go, a mobile phone game from Niantic which uses an augmented reality system to place virtual Pokémon monsters in real world locations. Throngs of players forced themselves out into the great outdoors to collect the impossibly cute critters, as well as socialize with fellow Poké-fanatics. Meet up groups quickly sprang up over the course of the summer with thousands of people meeting up in unlikely locations, like Des Moines, Iowa.
Pokemon Go – Iowa’s event pulled in over a thousand attendees for a meet-up session in Des Moines Iowa
Pokémon Go’s success helped whet appetites for the main course: two brand-new titles for the Nintendo 3DS, Pokémon Sun and Moon, which have gone on to become the fastest selling Pokémon titles in Nintendo’s history.
With the impending launch of the Nintendo Switch, you can bet that Pokémon will continue to play a key part in the fortunes of the big N.
God willing, Pikachu’s reign as our king will last for generations to come.
The hybrid nature of the Switch, between home and portable console will undoubtedly provide a perfect home for Pikachu and all of his friends.
I hope that you enjoy this look at the Most Important Games Nintendo’s Ever Published. Please keep an eye out at NerdBacon.com, or like our Facebook page as we continue the countdown!
We also want to know your thoughts on what games were most important to Nintendo. Have a disagreement with the list? Want to share a Nintendo memory? Just let us know in the comments section below.
Written by The Watchman
He’s also an actor, a reporter, a pro wrestling connoisseur, and some say he’s a cat whisperer.
If you have any questions or just want to drop me a line, hit me up at thewatchman@butthole.nerdbacon.com
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