Summary
- Nintendo's influence on the gaming industry is far-reaching, with the NES and Tetris paving the way for popular genres.
- Pokemon Red and Green revived the Game Boy, setting the stage for monster-catching games and inspiring future titles.
- Super Mario Kart's accessible gameplay and enduring popularity established the mascot-inspired kart racing genre.
Nintendo can 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.

6 Best Prequel Games In Nintendo Franchises
Not every character needs an origin story, but that hasn't stopped Nintendo from making prequels to some of their most iconic franchises.
One could argue that platformers owe a lot to Super Mario Bros. but platformers had existed before that. Also, there are no direct ways to link most platformers to Super Mario Bros. although there is a fun conversation to be had. Instead, it’s easier to draw lines between these examples.
8 Tetris
It Made The Game Boy A Hit
Tetris was 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 with Tetris was 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 but Tetris certainly helped. Tetris can also be thanked for paving the way for puzzle games to become popular from inside Nintendo, like Dr. Mario or rivals like Sega’s Puyo Puyo series.
7 Pokemon Green/Red
The Arise Of The Monster-Catching Boom
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Game Boy
- Released
- February 27, 1996
- Developer(s)
- Game Freak
Pokemon Green and Pokemon Red were the versions that Japan got in 1996, and they gave the Game Boy a second life in its waning years. The idea of befriending monsters in games was not a new concept. Shin Megami Tensei entries had demon contracts and players could get monsters to join their team in Dragon Quest 5: Hand of the Heavenly Bride. However, the Pokemon games made this idea more widely accepted. So much so that games are still being used as inspiration from other titles, including Cassette Beats, Palworld, and Temtem. Nothing has dethroned the Pokemon franchise quite yet, and it seems like nothing will.
6 EarthBound
The Quirky RPG Is Born
- Platform(s)
- SNES, Nintendo Game Boy Advance
- Released
- June 5, 1995
- Developer(s)
- HAL Laboratory, Ape Inc.
EarthBound may 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 first Mother game on NES (retitled EarthBound Beginnings). Fans are still waiting for an official English port of Mother 3 or a sequel though.

Best Nintendo Game Reveals, Ranked
Nintendo's history would forever change with the reveal of these exclusive games for their consoles and brands.
While they wait, fans have collaborated on spiritual successors such as Undertale which could be argued to be the bigger game. Other honorable mentions include Eastward, Citizens of Earth, and the upcoming Oddity which began as the unofficial sequel, Mother 4.
5 Super Metroid
1/2 Of The Metroidvania Formula
- Platform(s)
- SNES
- Released
- April 18, 1994
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is the other half of the Metroidvania formula but Super Metroid came first. Both games are quite different in gameplay design, but they do share the idea of power-ups strewn throughout an interconnected map. Super Metroid is 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, and Ori and the Will of the Wisp are all great modern Metroidvanias that owe a lot to these two juggernauts.
4 Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars
Adding An Active Element To Turn-Based Combat
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
- Platform(s)
- SNES
- Released
- May 13, 1996
- Developer(s)
- Square
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was a co-effort between Nintendo publishing it and Nintendo giving Squaresoft the room they needed to get weird with Mario. It was Mario's first RPG adventure which blossomed into two separate franchises: Mario and Luigi and Paper 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-Mario games would reuse this timed combat feature too including Sea of Stars, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, and South Park: The Stick of Truth.
3 Super Mario Kart
A More Accessible And Fun Racing Game
- Platform(s)
- SNES, Wii, Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo Switch
- Released
- September 1, 1992
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo EAD
The Mario train is not done yet because, before Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Mario was biting rubber on the track. Super Mario Kart is largely praised for being the first mascot-inspired kart racer that was aimed at an audience not fully into the more intense racing games.

8 Popular Franchises You Forgot Had Wii Games
When the Wii was atop the gaming world, popular franchises tried to jump on board with a Wii-exclusive title, some of which were quickly forgotten.
The idea has proven to pay off greatly for Nintendo as players are still buying Mario 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 since Super Mario Kart, including Crash Team Racing, Konami Krazy Racers, and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, but none have the success or star power of Mario.
2 Wii Sports
The Perfect Embodiment Of The Motion-Control Craze
- Platform(s)
- Wii
- Released
- November 19, 2006
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo EAD
The craze for Wii Sports can be likened to the conjoined success of the Game Boy and Tetris. 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 on The Today Show. The Wii and Wii Sports sold like hotcakes, prompting Sony and Microsoft to try and clone the success with their versions 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.
1 The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
The Open-Air Genre
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Wii U, Switch
- Released
- March 3, 2017
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo EPD
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was not created in a vacuum. Someone on the Nintendo team had to have played The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim as 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 games have tried the climbing or gliding concepts since 2017 including Genshin Impact, Immortals Fen Rising, and Rise of the Ronin.

8 Best Nintendo Villains With Heroic Tendencies
Nintendo has its fair share of iconic villains, but some of them have a softer side.