Nintendo’s family of consoles is one of the three console titans that has managed to keep a foothold in the market for going on eleven generations now.
As the current elder statesman of consoles, Nintendo has given its players a plethora of console exclusives to be proud of in one way or another. It’s also given players a good amount of trash. Lately, consoles have been looking to expand their reach to the PC market more, porting exclusives to the platform. Nintendo is notoriously stingy with their exclusives, though. This list will explore some Nintendo exclusive games that definitely need the PC treatment as well as games that Nintendo can keep being stingy with.
10 Fine Where It Is: Friday the 13th (Nintendo Entertainment System)
Surprisingly only one of four Friday the 13th games ever made, 1989’s Friday the 13th is an NES exclusive. Too bad it wasn’t all that great.
1989’s Friday the 13th is a side-scrolling survival horror-type game where the player controls camp counselors. The player must keep the kids attending the camp safe from Jason for a set number of cycles in the game while also making sure not to be killed by Jason as well. The game was lambasted for its frustrating design choices, awful graphics, and irritating music. PC players already have a comparatively better Friday the 13th game in 2017’s Friday the 13th: The Game, even if its servers were shut down. So, this one can stay right where it is.
9 Needs A Port: EarthBound (Nintendo Entertainment System)
EarthBound is often touted as one of the most influential RPG games ever made. Many big-name, as well as indie, titles often take heavy inspiration from this 1995 NES classic.
The legacy of the Mother series as a whole can never be understated. Earthbound is a big reason why so many old school RPG games continue to flood Steam. This game is important to a lot of people. It’s an absolute shame that after 15 years this game is still stuck only on Nintendo consoles. Every passing year makes it harder and harder for a new generation to experience this game comfortably. This game deserves a lot more preservation than what Nintendo is giving it.
8 Fine Where It Is: Where’s Waldo (Nintendo Entertainment System)
An interesting title in more than a couple ways. Where’s Waldo is a 1991 puzzle game for the NES developed by none other than Bethesda and published by THQ.
Where’s Waldo is a recreation of the Martin Handford children’s book in video game form, except the awful graphics make it much more difficult to play than just picking up the book itself. A lot of games can have bad graphics that make it aesthetically unplayable, but not literally unplayable. Where’s Waldo managed to have graphics so bad that it makes it literally unplayable gameplay-wise. Good job, Bethesda. That is truly something special. Just not special enough to deserve a port.
7 Needs A Port: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (Nintendo 64)
Nintendo has so many great franchises. It’d be hard to ask for one game out of a series of them since it’d only make sense to port all of them. If only one must be chosen out of The Legend of Zelda series, it would have to be 2000’s Majora’s Mask for the N64.
Majora’s Mask is such a weird and unique title when compared to the rest of the series of mainline games. It could be argued that it is the Legend of Zelda game that has made the most impact on all players alike. The intricacies of the game itself are just as fascinating as its speedruns. It definitely needs some PC love.
6 Fine Where It Is: Superman 64 (Nintendo 64)
Not much needs to be said about this game that hasn’t already been said a million times over. Superman 64 is a notoriously bad game filled with bugs, glitches, inconsistent and boring gameplay, etc. It’s the game that put a huge black mark on the concept of superhero games.
This game doesn’t even deserve a port to other consoles, let alone a PC port. PC players already had to deal with the messy launch of Batman: Arkham Knight. At least that game was worth fixing though. This game isn’t even worth preserving in any capacity. It should definitely just be left exactly where it is and hopefully forgotten.
5 Needs A Port: Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)
A game that really needs no introduction. While perhaps Odyssey would be a worthy replacement on this list, credit must be given where it’s due. This list just wouldn’t be complete without 1996’s Super Mario 64 for the N64.
Nothing short of a pioneer in video games, Super Mario 64 is the game that came along and paved the way for the future of 3D video games. While the early implementation of the 3D camera is a bit wonky, dated design choices are still sprinkled throughout the game and Mario’s movement is a bit restricted and heavy in some aspects, Super Mario 64 still holds up surprisingly well even today. There’s a reason this game has a fan-made port. It’s a no-brainer that Nintendo needs give this game as much preservation as possible with an official PC port.
4 Fine Where It Is: Grill-Off with Ultra Hand! (Nintendo Wii)
If the title of this “game” wasn’t enough to make someone’s eyebrows raise then the promotional material for it will.
Grill-Off with Ultra Hand! is a WiiWare game released in 2010. The game features the titular Ultra Hand, a toy that Nintendo made back in the 1960s, grabbing food off of a grill. The player controls Ultra Hand with a scissoring motion made with the Wiimote and nunchuck, scoring points for grabbing food when it’s been fully grilled. That’s it. At best, this game would probably blend in with the innumerable amount of asset flips and shovelware titles already crowding Steam.
3 Needs A Port: Super Smash Bros. Melee (Nintendo GameCube)
Super Smash Bros. is Nintendo’s brawler series of games. Out of every release, 2001’s Super Smash Bros. Melee for the GameCube is the Smash Bros. game that probably rides the line between casual and competitive play better than any other release before or since. That’s why it gets the nod here.
With possibly the biggest and most substantial content jump between two games in the series, great mechanics that served both casual and serious players well, even if some of them weren’t entirely intended and a soundtrack that celebrates all of Nintendo’s IPs up to that point, Melee is still the go-to Smash game for many players even today. Without a doubt, it deserves the PC treatment.
2 Fine Where It Is: Wii Music (Nintendo Wii)
As a largely family-friendly console, the Wii had a lot of first-party games that took advantage of its motion control capabilities and allowed a whole family to get involved with simple, easy-access gameplay. As a result, most of the Wii series games are pretty alright for what they’re trying to accomplish. Most of them would probably make nice, little VR games with a little tweaking.
Wii Music on the other hand takes this concept to an unreasonable extreme. Wii Music is little more than waggling the Wiimote around to license-free music. Perhaps a silly but still mildly entertaining concept back in 2008. Today though, motion controls/VR has come a long way from just doing simple actions to achieve what the player wants in-game.
1 Needs A Port: Bayonetta 2 (Wii U)
The Wii U is Nintendo’s worst-performing console to date, which is why it’s an absolute travesty that such a great game like 2014’s Bayonetta 2 got stuck as a Wii U exclusive upon release.
The story of how Bayonetta 2 became a Nintendo exclusive is understandably frustrating for a lot of players. PlatinumGames was in a tough spot. Without Nintendo, Bayonetta 2 and its upcoming sequel may have never existed at all. That still doesn’t mean that this game doesn’t deserve a PC port. It was quite possibly the best 3rd-party game on a console no one cared about when it came to 3rd-party titles.
NEXT: The 10 Best PlatinumGames Games, Ranked (According To Metacritic)
