Top 5 Nintendo games since 1985: Do you agree?

This week marks the 37th anniversary of Super Mario Bros which was released for the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) in September 1985, so I will be listing the top five Nintendo games since 1985 in honour of the classic game.

1. Almost any Mario game

There’s no doubt that the Mario game series made this list, after all this whole article was written in honour of the Super Mario Bros 37th anniversary. Mario is easily one of the most recognisable names in the gaming community and industry. The character has the ability to unite both old and new players through its simple gameplay. The release of the first game in 1985 practically saved the gaming industry as it went on to sell more than forty million copies and kickstart a franchise that is still popular to this day.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

One of the very first games I played on the Nintendo Wii was The Legend of Zelda, and although I was never able to complete it, it could keep me occupied for hours. It was released in 2006 for the GameCube and Nintendo Wii and is widely considered to be one of the greatest Zelda games ever created. The goal of the game is to save the player’s home, Hyrule, from being engulfed by a dimension known as the Twilight Realm.

3. Nintendogs

Nintendogs was released in 2005 for the Nintendo DS. This was one of the games I desperately wanted for my Nintendo DSi as a child, because like many children my parents said no to a dog. Nintendogs was seen as a great alternative for a real pet because it meant that the parents didn’t end up doing all the work and the child was learning about responsibility in the process.

4. The Pokémon series

When I first got my Nintendo DSi, Pokémon Black was one of the very first games I owned and did manage to complete. It was just the right amount of difficulty for my nine-year-old self so that I could be challenged yet still enjoy it. The recent games, especially those made for the Nintendo Switch have received a lot of criticism from many fans of the older game, but I think that it’s because the games are less challenging and have easier game mechanics, meaning they take less time to complete. Replaying the Pokémon games is heavily nostalgic for me, and I feel like many players would agree with me.

5. Animal Crossing: Wild World

Animal Crossing Wild World was another Nintendo DSi game I owned, it was released in 2006, two years after the first game was released in Europe. Players were able to bond over their shared hatred of Tom Nook, something that the newer players don’t quite understand. Although there was a limit to what you were able to do in the game it still somehow remained fun. After fulfilling your forced debt to Tom Nook, you could spend your time talking to the villagers, colleting fossils for the museum and running away from angry bees after greedily shaking trees to find Bells. Wild World could make you feel genuine emotion for the NPCs, whether that was hatred for Rosetti if you forgot to save or love for your favourite villager every time you spoke with them.