Discussion The top 5 essential Nintendo franchises. Mario and Zelda are 1 & 2. What are your personal 3-5?

[Enpsty]

Pretty sure everyone would agree that when we think of Nintendo franchises we think of Mario and Zelda. You could argue that the third one is Pokémon, but many would say it's actually Metroid. Or maybe something else? What about the 4-5 positions? Can we have an actual top 5 essential Nintendo franchises?

Now I think when people name the Mario franchise that includes the spin offs as well. That's the reason I didn't include them in the poll. If you disagree there's the other option.

 

[LukasManak22]

 

[daybreak]

Endless Ocean occupies slots 3 through 5.

 

[HockeyBird]

Just add Pikachu to this image and yeah, that's the essential Top 5.

 

[9-Volt]

Core franchises only: Mario - Zelda - Donkey Kong - Animal Crossing - Splatoon

Core franchises, but Mario all in one: Mario - Zelda - Animal Crossing - Splatoon - Pikmin

All of the franchises: Mario - Pokémon - Animal Crossing - Zelda - Kirby

 

[Hocot8]

Pokemon, Smash, and Animal Crossing.

Splatoon has a decent argument though. I just think Animal Crossing is bigger.

 

[LukasManak22]

Just add Pikachu to this image and yeah, that's the essential Top 5.

The fifth is Pikmin obviously, Pikmin 4 the first game to sell 1 Pikmillion copies.

 

[Josh5890]

Assuming that we are including spinoff franchises and not keeping it to strictly character IP's.

-Mario
-Zelda
-Pokemon
-Mario Kart
-Smash Bros

 

[Lord Azrael]

Essential in terms of what? "Must plays"?

 

[Enpsty]

Essential in terms of what? "Must plays"?

More like popular. Not necessarily in sales though. As in tell me the first 5 franchises you think of when I say Nintendo.

 

[Derachi]

I don’t think about Pokemon when I think about Nintendo because it’s such a weird “other” type entity

For me it’s Animal Crossing, Splatoon, and Smash Bros.

 

[neil]

My votes echoed the majority. Splatoon, Pokemon, and AC are the most fun imo.

 

[Phendrift]

Essential for players to experience? Metroid for sure, none of Nintendo’s other franchises have multiple games on the level of Mario and Zelda’s best except it. Other than that I can’t really pick. Xenoblade is pretty quickly getting there for JRPG fans, certainly my favorites of the genre for the past decade.

Essential to Nintendo for their sales and success? Pokémon, Animal Crossing, Smash I guess

 

[Enpsty]

Essential for players to experience? Metroid for sure, none of Nintendo’s other franchises have multiple games on the level of Mario and Zelda’s best except it. Other than that I can’t really pick. Xenoblade is pretty quickly getting there for JRPG fans, certainly my favorites of the genre for the past decade.

Essential to Nintendo for their sales and success? Pokémon, Animal Crossing, Smash I guess

Essential as the 5 franchises you think when you I say Nintendo.

 

[Deleted member 1005]

Mario, Zelda, Animal Crossing, Splatoon, and Pokemon

 

[Thunder84]

Smash in the west, Splatoon in Japan. The other 4 are self explanatory.

 

[Lord Azrael]

With the OP's clarifications on what they mean by essential, I guess I'd say Mario, Zelda, Kirby and Donkey Kong as guaranteed picks. Fifth is either Metroid, Pokémon or Animal Crossing

 

[BassForever]

Mario
Zelda
Pokemon
Animal Crossing

Those are the top 4

The 5th spot should clearly be Mario Kart or Smash Bros, if you don't want to consider them, then it's Splatoon.

 

[Brofield]

Only reason I say Smash instead of Splatoon is because I like Smash more and it's been around longer, but realistically it probably is Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Splatoon

 

[Stilt Village]

By OP's criteria, it's just Mario and Zelda. I don't think about Splatoon and Animal Crossing very much, and everything else is much more obscure or made by other developers. Or dead.

Like, I love Pikmin, but it does not instantly spring to mind when you say "Nintendo".

 

[Raccoon]

Animal Crossing, Splatoon, and Pikmin. The Nintendo Store branding decrees it.

 

[Síriocaz]

Xenoblade and Fire Emblem are Nintendo's most important properties by a light year.

Nobody knows this, though. Yet.

 

[Tangerine_Cookie]

• ARMS
• Style Savvy

 

[Deleted member 2]

More like popular. Not necessarily in sales though. As in tell me the first 5 franchises you think of when I say Nintendo.

Well, there's a huge difference between asking for an objective answer and asking for a personal opinion

Given that the question implies an objective answer and Nintendo has indicated what they believe to be their essential franchises, you're going to see a landslide with less discussion

 

[Deleted member 2]

As for my personal 5 essential Nintendo franchises?

I like to cover a wide variety of gameplay styles.

Adventure: The Legend of Zelda
Platformer: Mario
Shooter: Splatoon
Strategy: Pikmin
RPG: Xenoblade Chronicles

With the above I cover a lot of ground in terms of gameplay style and experience

 

[Professor Chops]

It's important to establish what "essential" means, or else the thread will devolve into people sharing sales figures, listing their personal favorites, or posting screenshots of whatever is actively being marketed by Nintendo right now. Although the game franchise has been dormant for nine years, Donkey Kong just appeared in the second highest grossing animated movie of all-time and is rumored to be getting his own movie. DK is one of the only Nintendo characters whose recognizability transcends generations. Ask anybody over 40 if they know what Splatoon or Animal Crossing are.

Option A: Includes franchises co-owned by Nintendo
1. Mario
2. Pokémon
3. Zelda
4. Donkey Kong
5. Kirby

Option B: Franchises owned solely by Nintendo
1. Mario
2. Zelda
3. Donkey Kong
4. Animal Crossing
5. Splatoon

 

[TheQuietone]

Financial is
Mario
Zelda
Pokémon
Splatoon
Animal Crossing

My personal top 5 is

Mario
Zelda
Pokémon
Metroid
Xenoblade

Edit: removed Fire Emblem for Xenoblade because I prefer Xenoblade over FE.

 

[Mr_No_U]

Urban Champion

 

[Sturmgeist]

I am personally upset with anyone who doesn't say Metroid

 

[Gartooth]

Tackling this from a business POV for Nintendo as a corporation: Pokemon and Animal Crossing are the next obvious 2 after Mario and Zelda and don't need any explanation. The 5th is either Smash or Splatoon. I believe Smash is easily the bigger series but it's also a crossover of all of Nintendo's IP and legacy so I feel like it cant really stand on its own without the other franchises' popularity and history. In terms of what the next most merchandisable and successful standalone franchise is it has to be Splatoon.

Me personally? If I had to think of the top 5 quintessential Nintendo IP I'm going to pick ones with extremely iconic characters and worlds that have lasted generations cause I think Nintendo's staying power is an important thing to the company's brand. So I'd say Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Donkey Kong, and either Metroid or Kirby for the final spot. These are all franchises that have been around for decades and are still heralded as iconic classics in the Nintendo stable.

 

[Aostia82]

For me and my taste

Xenoblade
Metroid
Fire emblem

100% without any doubt

 

[Baobab]

my personal and subjective choice would be :
metroid
donkey Kong
splatoon

a more objective choice would be:
animal crossing
splatoon
donkey kong

i think Pokémon is not in majority managed by Nintendo so it would not be right to include it here and I have difficulty putting smash in the second list(where it belongs) because actually for a long time very few developers and designers from Nintendo actually worked on the IP and mostly other companies filled that role and the director himself is in a way a third party.

 

[Enpsty]

Well, there's a huge difference between asking for an objective answer and asking for a personal opinion

Given that the question implies an objective answer and Nintendo has indicated what they believe to be their essential franchises, you're going to see a landslide with less discussion

Since we don't have an official answer (no the image posted above ain't an official answer) the poll is obviously based on personal opinions.

 

[PixelKnight]

Ring Fit I feel has massive growth potential.

I think the ‘most important’ or ‘biggest’ is probably Pokemon/Animal Crossing/Splatoon.

My favourites are Fire Emblem/Starfox/Metroid.

 

[Tomas]

Ouch, I'm the only voter for F-Zero so far. I don't remember any weak entries in the series. It's also one of the franchises I think of when someone mentions Nintendo. Pikmin is also essential to me, as is Metroid.

 

[Nathan Little]

I just know I would sacrifice all of these top franchises if I could have more quality Donkey Kong games.

 

[Chalphy]

I think of Nintendo as a big tent company, so I think of a wide variety of IP's that appeal to different people. I think with Mario and Zelda, I would consider Metroid, Fire Emblem, and Smash to round out the 5 essential IPs.

 

[Sheldon]

Mario, Zelda and Metroid will forever be the Holy Trinity not just of Nintendo but Video Games.

With only two spots remaining, the rest is a bloodbath. Pokemon is more essential than any other series on the list, but less Nintendo than most. My personal allegiance belongs to Splatoon, but stepping out of myself, Kirby feels essential and essentially Nintendo, with its many decades of steadfast releases and the historical importance of certain former HAL Laboratory employees. There should never be a Mount Rushmore of Nintendo franchises without Isabelles face on it, though.

 

[Deleted member 2]

Since we don't have an official answer (no the image posted above ain't an official answer) the poll is obviously based on personal opinions.

My point is it's not obvious when the first several posts in the thread are referring to Nintendo as if it's the primary source of the answer

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

Metroid, Donkey Kong, and Kirby.

 

[Barely Able]

DK, Pokémon, Metroid. Those set the stage for the video game industry throughout the years (DK launching Nintendo to mainstream consciousness, Metroid setting the groundwork for the indie generation in a lot of ways with the search action gameplay, and Pokémon being the biggest brand in video games) much more than the other franchises listed, so feel like the impact makes them more essential from a historical perspective.

 

[Yoshifan31]

Pokemon, Metroid

I voted Smash because it’s pretty big and a lot of people that play it actually barely know any of the series represented in it. If crossovers don’t count I guess it’s DK but Star Fox was kinda up there for a moment too. Honestly DK never stood out that much gameplay wise compared to other platformers so if the vote was strictly about quality then it would be F-Zero of course. Yeah screw it I’m voting F-Zero

 

[Enpsty]

Poor Star Fox... Even F-Zero got some votes.

 

[xghost777]

If we are just doing personal top five, it’s probably Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Smash, and Xenoblade for me. I’m not really sure of the order though.

 

[Mekanos]

Feel like we’ve had this thread before several times

Anyhoo, the big 3 are obviously Mario, Pokemon and Zelda, anything after that becomes semantics

 

[Chaos Theory]

1. Mario
2. Zelda
3. Pokemon
4. Metroid
5. Animal Crossing

Metroid is Nintendo's most prestigious IP after Mario/Zelda in terms of critical acclaim, boasts multiple games of a generation, is the origin of its a genre, has one of (if not the) longest running stories in the industry, is a speedrunning icon, and is one of their few major IP that still has a genuine future in both 2D and 3D.

Metroid is video game heritage. Anybody claiming it's not top 5 is neither fit to be a Nintendo fan nor taken seriously.

 

[Rainbow]

#Sales Top 5

Pokemon - Animal Crossing - Mario - Zelda - Smash Bros

-------------------------

#Personal Top 5

Smash Bros - Super Mario - The Legend of Zelda - Metroid - Xenoblade Chronicles - Fire Emblem - Advance Wars - F- Zero


Yeah it's actually 8, deal with it ;-)

 

[correojon]

1. Mario: The face (and heart) of the company
2. Zelda: The most prestigious one.
3. Metroid: The last part of the Triforce, may not be a power seller but it has helped shape game design at a comparable level to Mario and Zelda. Still, it needs MP4 to be a big hit to not just be a legacy prestige IP.
4. Pokémon: Biggest IP in the world.
5. Mario Kart: This merits a spot on it's own, for me it's one of the strongest reasons of why I buy Nintendo consoles and I think it's the biggest seller by far.

I could understand however someone taking out Metroid and putting in Animal Crossing instead. DK could be there as well.

 

[YoboD]

I feel like the top 4 of Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, and Animal Crossing is pretty inarguable. As far as 5th, I can see the arguments for and against all of Splatoon, Metroid, and Snash Bros.

 

[Mekanos]

Metroid is video game heritage. Anybody claiming it's not top 5 is neither fit to be a Nintendo fan nor taken seriously.

top 5 posters in need of touching grass