Nintendo has a laundry list of iconic games that we never forget, but unfortunately there are also titles that we as gamers don’t think about very often anymore. As is the case with this Pokémon game.
Nintendo is a giant in the gaming industry. And big franchises like Mario, The Legend of Zelda or Kirby are impossible to imagine our pop culture without. Not surprising, since Nintendo has been marketing games for longer than most of us have been potty trained.
So Nintendo has made an awful lot of hits. Chances are one of the first consoles you ever played on was one from Nintendo. But in all those years, not all the games have stood the test of time.
Pokémon and other Nintendo games we’ve forgotten about
Some games or even entire series have been forgotten. WANT went to investigate and presents you with a series of forgotten Nintendo games.
Crystalis | Game Boy Color
What if The Legend of Zelda contained a little more RPG elements? Then you get Crystalis.
The game starts out almost identical to the original The Legend of Zelda. Players wake up in a cave and find a sword. From there, they are free to explore. It’s a simple game formula, but very entertaining.
(image: SNK / Nintendo)
Yoshi | NES
Before Yoshi got his own decent game franchise, Nintendo tried to give him his own identity before. He was known on the NES only as Mario’s green sidekick. So Nintendo made Yoshi.
However, the game had nothing like the platforming roots that Yoshi came from. It was a bit and vague variant of Tetris. Fortunately, the Yoshi’s Island games were a lot more memorable though.
(image: Nintendo)
Spider-Man | Nintendo 64
Yes indeed, not only PlayStation has Spider-Man in its game catalog. In fact, the Nintendo 64 released the game Spider-Man.
In the game, Spider-Man swings through levels to take on virtually every bad guy from the gallery of his villains. Venom, Scorpion, Doc Ock and Rhino all appear in this Nintendo game. It is a surprisingly entertaining game for its time.
(image: Activision / Nintendo)
Pokémon Trading Card Game | Game Boy
Yes this is a game based on the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Vague? Maybe a little bit. The game on the Nintendo Game Boy is thankfully not so.
In the game, you are a player who just got his first deck of Pokémon cards. You then play against other players. It is a variation on the classic Pokémon formula, but it works very well. It gives you a chance to still play with Pokémon cards without spending a lot of money on the actual cards.
(image: Nintendo)
Solstice | NES
Solstice was a brilliant puzzle-platformer that perfectly capitalized on the capabilities of the NES. You play as wizard Shadax who is trying to save a princess. He does this by working his way through levels full of puzzles that require spatial awareness. The game also had a very original 8-bit soundtrack.
(image: Nintendo)
Mario Strikers: Charged | Wii
It’s not often that games in which Mario has a starring role are forgotten. That is partially the case with Mario Strikers: Charged. The only reason this N game might still ring a bell is because Nintendo recently rebooted the series on the Switch.
This explosive soccer game pits well-known Mario characters against each other on the soccer field with all sorts of crazy powerups and powers. Maybe the game was forgotten because it’s a sports game. Maybe it was too weird a combination, Mario in soccer shoes. Who knows, at least the game is worth playing.
(image: Nintendo)
Kid Icarus: Of Myths And Monsters | Game Boy
Most of this franchise remains forgotten, even though the main character Pitt is known to a large audience. After all, he has been in the Super Smash Bros. games for a long time. But let’s not forget that this Nintendo angel also has his own series.
And you don’t often see this game from the series come around anymore. It was a challenging game on the Game Boy that would fit into the “Metroidvania” genre. Those are games in the style of, you guessed it, Metroid or Castlevania. In terms of platforming, the game is not very difficult, but the large maps let players get lost quickly. Maybe someday we’ll get a full-fledged remake of this game.
(image: Nintendo)
