Summary
Nintendocan be thanked for bringing the industry back on its toes once they launched the NES. After the NES did so well, there were other consoles on the market like the Sega Master System, which means Nintendo had a big influence on the console market. They have also made plenty of games that others would later go on to borrow ideas from to put it nicely.
One could argue that platformers owe a lot toSuper Mario Bros.but platformers had existed before that. Also, there are no direct ways to link most platformers toSuper Mario Bros.although there is a fun conversation to be had. Instead, it’s easier to draw lines between these examples.
Tetriswas conceived first in Russia via Alexey Pajitnov, but Nintendo helped him bring it to a wider audience. It was a launch game for the Game Boy which Nintendo fully developed. Bundling the Game Boy withTetriswas almost an excuse for adults to buy this portable console for their children so that they too could enjoy a video game. The Game Boy would have probably been a success regardless butTetriscertainly helped.Tetriscan also be thanked for paving the way for puzzle games to become popular from inside Nintendo, likeDr. Marioor rivals like Sega’sPuyo Puyoseries.
Pokemon GreenandPokemon Redwere the versions that Japan got in 1996, and they gave the Game Boy a second life in its waning years. The idea ofbefriending monsters in gameswas not a new concept.Shin Megami Tenseientries had demon contracts and players could get monsters to join their team inDragon Quest 5: Hand of the Heavenly Bride. However, thePokemongames made this idea more widely accepted. So much so that games are still being used as inspiration from other titles, includingCassette Beats,Palworld, andTemtem. Nothing has dethroned thePokemonfranchise quite yet, and it seems like nothing will.
EarthBoundmay not have been a smash hit on the SNES. Its popularity had a slow burn, becoming a cult hit after it was released in 1995 in North America. This fervor from fans could be attributed to why Nintendo finally released the firstMothergame on NES (retitledEarthBound Beginnings). Fans are still waiting for an official English port ofMother 3or a sequel though.
While they wait, fans have collaborated on spiritual successors such as Undertale which could be argued to be the bigger game. Other honorable mentions includeEastward,Citizens of Earth, and the upcomingOdditywhich began as the unofficial sequel,Mother 4.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Nightis the other half ofthe Metroidvania formulabutSuper Metroidcame first. Both games are quite different in gameplay design, but they do share the idea of power-ups strewn throughout an interconnected map.Super Metroidis more of a run-and-gun shooter and it has a moody atmosphere. The indie scene is seemingly divided between Metroidvanias and roguelikes as they are two of the most popular genres.Axiom Verge,Hollow Knight, andOri and the Will of the Wispare all great modern Metroidvanias that owe a lot to these two juggernauts.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Starswas a co-effort between Nintendo publishing it and Nintendo giving Squaresoft the room they needed to get weird with Mario. It wasMario’s first RPG adventurewhich blossomed into two separate franchises:Mario and LuigiandPaper Mario. Both kept the active element of reactionary turn-based combat. Nintendos owes a lot to Squaresoft for paving the RPG way forward but some games owe a debt of gratitude to Nintendo too for allowing this oddity to transpire. Non-Mariogames would reuse this timed combat feature too includingSea of Stars,Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, andSouth Park: The Stick of Truth.
The Mario train is not done yet because, beforeSuper Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Mario was biting rubber on the track.Super Mario Kartis largely praised for being the firstmascot-inspired kart racerthat was aimed at an audience not fully into the more intense racing games.
The idea has proven to pay off greatly for Nintendo as players are still buyingMario Kart 8 Deluxe, the latest iteration on the Switch, even though it has existed on the system, and before that on Wii U for almost a decade. There have been some good kart racers sinceSuper Mario Kart,includingCrash Team Racing,Konami Krazy Racers, andSonic & Sega All-Stars Racing,but none have the success or star power of Mario.
The craze forWii Sportscan be likened to the conjoined success of the Game Boy andTetris. Without one, the other might not exist. Wii Sports was the flagship game of the Wii, launching with it, and it was like a proof of concept. Yes, the motion controls worked and even Grandma could figure it out. It turned people of all ages into gamers overnight thanks to some clever marketing and good media coverage too like onTheToday Show. The Wii and Wii Sports sold like hotcakes, prompting Sony and Microsoft to try and clone the success with theirversions of motion-controlled games. The PS3 had PS Move controllers which would go on to aid in PSVR’s development. The Xbox 360 had Xbox Kinect which would make it onto the Xbox One before getting abandoned quickly.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildwas not created in a vacuum. Someone on the Nintendo team had to have playedThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrimas it is one of the most influential open-world games of all time. Nintendo saw what it did in 2011 and raised the bar six years later with the “open-air” concept. Link’s glider made traveling between high-topped peaks and buildings quick and easy and the ability to climb any surface was mesmerizing.Many action gameshave tried the climbing or gliding concepts since 2017 includingGenshin Impact,Immortals Fenyx Rising, andRise of the Ronin.
