The video game industry continues to grow in staggering ways. Plenty has changed, but something that remains a staple is Nintendo’s presence as a developer and innovator in the industry. Nintendo has built a name for themselves with their ambitious ideas for consoles and control schemes, but they’re also responsible for some of the best retro games that helped build the industry in the first place.
Nintendo has released enough impressive games that it’s easy to overlook some of them and for the company to get tunnel vision with its properties. Mario isn’t going anywhere, but there are lots of older games that would benefit even more from a modern return.
10 Mother/EarthBound Beginnings
There’s no need to remake the piece of art that is EarthBound, but the same can’t be said for its predecessor. Mother is the first title in the series and it’s left a much smaller impression on the public. The game was finally released in America on the Wii U’s eShop under the title EarthBound Beginnings. There’s a simple storyline where an unfulfilled child must travel across America to assemble a powerful melody to protect humankind from an alien takeover. There’s such a strong foundation here that could go to even more exciting places in a modern remake.
9 Mischief Makers
Many of the flashiest titles for the Nintendo 64 are games that push the console’s graphical capabilities to their limit, but there are lots of hidden gems that stick to the 2D sidescroller approach. Mischief Makers is a phenomenal example of a platformer that comes from the legendary developer, Treasure. Mischief Makers features gameplay that’s unlike anything else on the N64 and it’s a tragedy that so few people have gotten to experience it. Mischief Makers deserves a larger audience and its weird mechanics and characters strangely feel more appropriate now.
8 Space Station Silicon Valley
Space Station Silicon Valley is a Nintendo 64 game that sounds weird and looks even weirder. It’s the type of combination of absurd sensibilities and gameplay ideas that feels akin to what’s currently being done by ambitious developers like Suda51.
The game involves players hopping between artificial animals through the use of a microchip in a way that gets really creative with the adventure genre. Space Station Silicon Valley has a great idea hidden away in a forgotten game and the Cappy concept in Super Mario Odyssey proves that this idea can still work.
7 Weaponlord
The fighting genre is dominated by such evergreen franchises that plenty of other worthwhile games get left in the dust as a result. Weaponlord is an aggressive SNES fighter that puts its focus on the different weapons that the character’s use, which makes it feel like a 16-bit progenitor for future hits of the genre like Soul Calibur. Namco’s Soul Calibur is still going strong, but it’d be nice to have another weapons-heavy fighter that could act as an alternative. There’s a level of barbarism and mysticism in Weaponlord that’s lacking in other fighting titles.
6 The 7th Saga
The 7th Saga is a mature turn-based RPG for the Super Nintendo that in many ways feels like it was too sophisticated for 1993. The game features typical fantasy archetypes, but it tells a story that covers thousands of years and features distinct environments. The 7th Saga stands out with its cast of seven separate characters and their interconnecting narratives. The 7th Saga has a good idea at its core, but a punishing difficulty held it back from greater acclaim on the SNES. That can now be fixed.
5 Blast Corps
Rare is now currently aligned with Microsoft, but back when the company was a part of Nintendo they created some of the best games for their consoles. Many Rare games have found ways to return over time, but Blast Corps is an inventive N64 title that’s never received the same level of affection.
The title has players control the many eclectic vehicles on a demolition team and there’s just so much depth and variety present in this little game. Blast Corps doesn’t just deserve a return, but there should be more games that make use of a demolition concept.
4 Kirby’s Dream Course
Nintendo has a lot of beloved mascots and franchises that it’s kept in the spotlight and even though the Kirby series is still one of Nintendo’s top priorities, that doesn’t mean that every entry and spin-off in the series is remembered. Kirby’s Dream Course is an unusual pivot that mixes together Kirby with miniature golf. It’s a surprisingly satisfying Super Nintendo game, but one that’s limited by its release in the 90s. It’d be incredible to see this concept return and what HAL Laboratories could currently do with the gameplay. There aren’t nearly enough modern miniature golf video games.
3 The Legend Of The Mystical Ninja
Konami’s Legend of the Mystical Ninja series has popped up on a number of different consoles, but it debuted on the Super Nintendo in Japan. The Mystical Ninja franchise has many diverse entries, but it’s died off in more recent years and fallen into obscurity. This is the perfect time for Legend of the Mystical Ninja to make a comeback. It’d be interesting to see the franchise turn back to the quirky SNES original and try to reinvent it for the Switch rather than just deliver a new installment in the series.
2 Mega Man Soccer
The sports genre is a vital area of the video game industry, but Nintendo has found a strange degree of success with sports titles that take a step away from reality and instead skew towards their playful mascots. The Mega Man franchise is still huge, but a more obscure gaming footnote is the series’ spin-off, Mega Man Soccer. The Super Nintendo’s Mega Man Soccer was a creative, albeit misguided idea, but it has the potential to return with a new facelift. Soccer is one of the few sports that Mario doesn’t regularly dominate, so maybe it’s Mega Man’s turn.
1 Paperboy
Paperboy should be a blast to the past for many gamers. It’s an important title that should get brought up more often even though many people know of the game when they hear it mentioned. Paperboy was simplistic back on the original Nintendo and even when it made a brief return in Paperboy 64. Games have admittedly progressed past the point of Paperboy, but it could be beneficial to see the game remade with a totally different execution, like trying out a Grand Theft Auto style aesthetic with the Paperboy universe.
NEXT: 10 Forgotten Fighting Game Franchises
