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 and #5 on our list, so you should probably take a look at those post haste.
4. Super Mario 64
The mid-nineties brought perhaps the most radical and exciting period of change that we have ever seen in the gaming industry.
Graphics technology progressed and became economical enough to allow games to move away from traditional 2D, hand-drawn sprites – to the revolutionary new world of 3D polygons.
For those of us who were lucky enough to be alive and playing games in 1996 – experiencing Super Mario 64 for the first time was nothing short of revolutionary.
This shift allowed developers to begin creating entire explorable worlds within their games, however, the emergence of 3D gaming technology brought with it a whole new set of challenges for developers.
The new freedom allowed by 3D technology meant that developers had to rethink the very art of game design itself. Concepts that had become routine in 2D suddenly had to be adapted and re-envisioned for the new 3D revolution.
While some genre’s such as sports, racing and shooters were a natural fit to translate into 3D, a proper conversion of the staple genre of the 2D era remained elusive: the platformer.
As Nintendo prepared to launch their newest console, the Nintendo64, the question on many minds was: how will Super Mario play as a 3D game?
Once again, Nintendo would turn to their most prolific designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, now a genuine legend within the industry, to lead Mario’s arrival into the third dimension.
Miyamoto and his team worked tirelessly to craft the perfect expression of Mario in a 3D universe, once again coming through with spectacular results.
Rather than simply replicate the exact formula found in the classic 2D incarnations of the franchise, Super Mario 64 took the opportunity to forge completely new ground.
The analogue stick at the heart of the N64 controller allowed new ways to interact with the game. Super Mario 64 had players grabbing Bowser and swinging him by his tail.
Mario became a much more agile plumber – receiving a variety of new acrobatic moves, like a back flip and a triple jump to help him navigate the third dimension. He also received new offensive moves in the form of some punches and kicks, which complimented his good old-fashioned jumping.
The move to 3D would unlock the player’s ability to explore the game world; and that new found freedom would mean that the structure of a Mario game would need to evolve.
Rather than having players run through traditional linear levels, progressing from point a to b, Super Mario 64 dropped players into a huge digital sandbox. Players could freely explore the grounds and surrounding areas of Princess Peach’s castle, discovering secrets and familiarizing themselves with the new controls. This castle acted as a hub-world: a centralized location that connected the rest of Super Mario 64’s levels.
Instead of selecting which level they wanted to tackle from a static map screen – players could literally jump into whatever level they wanted, by jumping into paintings hung inside the castle halls, which served as portals into brand new worlds.
Hub-worlds and this brand of non-linear level progression were all entirely new concepts introduced to the industry within Super Mario 64, and it would help serve as inspiration for countless games going forward.
Miyamoto and his team were also able to solve the problem of the player’s view being obstructed by various objects within the game world by introducing a method to control the camera view via the iconic yellow “C-Buttons” on the N64 controller.
The combination of Mario’s leap into 3D, coupled with the introduction of analogue controls with the exotic N64 controller, as well as the myriad of new concepts that were born in Super Mario 64, resulted in a breakthrough moment for Nintendo, the platform, genre, and the industry as a whole.
You never knew what type of creatures you’d run into in Super Mario 64
Where other attempts at 3D platforming during those early days of the shift to 3D could often feel clunky and cumbersome, Super Mario 64 flowed with a grace and elegance that was unparalleled at the time.
Besides creating a rebirth for Mario, Super Mario 64 established a standard for the entire industry on how games should feel and move in 3D.
It was truly a brilliant watershed moment during perhaps the most rapidly changing period in the history of the video game industry.
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.
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